BRISTOL

THE CATHEDRAL AND SEE

BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES

WITH PLAN AND ILLUSTRATT-^ '■ "•

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BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES

BRISTOL

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF

BRISTOL

A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC

AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF

THE EPISCOPAL SEE

H. J. L. J. MASSE, M.A.

!AV^.rUMiA

LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1901

B 77

GENERAL PREFACE

This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors
to the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illus-
trated guide-books at a popular price. The aim of each writer
has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge
and scholarship to be of value to the student of Archaeology
and History, and yet not too technical in language for the use
of an ordinary visitor or tourist.

To specify all the authorities which have been made use
of in each case would be difficult and tedious in this place.
But amongst the general sources of information which have
been almost invariably found useful are: — (i) the great
county histories, the value of which, especially in questions
of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2)
the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to
time in the Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological
Societies ; (3) the important documents made accessible in
the series issued by the Master of the Rolls ; (4) tlic well-
known works of Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals ;
and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to the
Cathedrals, originated by the late Mr. John Murray, to wliich
the reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail,
especially in reference to the histories of the respective sees.

LIBRARY

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

My special thanks are due to Mr. Robert Hall Warren, F.S.A.,

of Clifton, who knew the Cathedral well more than fifty years

ago^ and remembers what it has gone through during that lapse

(jf time ; to the Clifton Antiquarian Club for permission to

reproduce three illustrations from the Club Proceedings; and

to the never-failing courtesy of Mr. W. Hayward, the Sub-Sacrist

of the Cathedral.

H. J. L. J. M.

CONTENTS

CilAi'TEK I.— The History of tlic Church

3

Dedication, Arms, Bells . . . .

25

Chapter II.— The Exterior .

29

West Front .....

29

Central Tower

30

Cloisters .....

30

North Porch

33

CiiM'TER III. — The Interior.

35

Norman Nave ....

35

Present Nave .....

39

Transepts .....

45

North Transept ....

45

South Transept . . . . .

48

Central Tower ....

50

The Choir

50

The Tudor Choir Screen .

55

Organ ......

55

Choir Aisles ■

5«

Newton Chapel ....

60

Berkeley Tombs in South Choir Aisle

63

Sacristy ......

64

Berkeley Chapel ....

65

Windows in South Choir Aisle

66

The Lady Chapel ....

69

Reredos of the Lady Chapel .

71

Sedilia

72

Tombs of Abbots Newbury and Hunt

72

Tomb of Abbot Newland

73

East Window .....

74

Other Windows in the Lady Chapel

75

Tomb of Bishop Bush

77

The Eider Lady Chapel .

79

Chapter IV. — The Precincts

84

The Sanctuary, College Green

84

The High Cross ....

85

Monastic Buildings ....

86

Great Gateway ....

86

Cloisters .....

88

Chapter House ....

91

Dormitory, Infirmary

96

Gateway in Lower College Green .

97

The Bishop's Palace

98

Chapter V. — The Abbots .

99

The See ......

lOI

Bishops ......

102

Deans ......

105

Appendix— (William Wyrcestre) .

106

Dimensions .....

107

IiVPEX

III

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Cathedral from the North

West Front and Gateway ....

View from the North. (From an old print) .

West End in 1817

View from the South-East in 1830 .

Details of Carving from old Choir Screen

Central Tower and South Transept

The Nave — Eastward View ....

Frieze on the Tomb in the Berkeley Chapel .

Ground Plan in 1828

The Nave and North Aisle ....
South Aisle of Nave .....
The North Transept in 18 1 7 ....
Doorway in the Choir Screen (destroyed)
Section of the East End ....

South Aisle of the Choir ....

Tiles — formerly in the Cathedral
Entrance to the Vestibule of the Jjerkeley Chapel
Vaulting in the Vestibule of the Berkeley Chapel
Remains of Chancel Screen in South Choir Aisle

The Lady Chapel

The Elder Lady Chapel ....

The Reredos .......

Details of Carving from old Choir Screen
Door of Refectory ......

Entrance to South Transept from Cloisters
Entrance to Chapter House ....

The Chapter House

Arcading in the Chapter House

Coffin Lid .......

Gateway in Lower College Cireen .

Plan

Frontispiece

26
28
34
35
36
41
43
46

55
59
61
62
64
66
69
70
80

S3
84

89
90
92
93
94
95
97

loS

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL

CHAPTER I.

THE HISTORY OF THK CHURCH.

For a period of four hundred years previous to the creation
of the See of Bristol there had been a church and monastery
of Augustine canons, founded by Robert Fitzharding, or
Fitzhardinge, as the name is spelled by the present owners of
Berkeley Castle. This Robert seems to have been the son
of the Harding employed by Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances,
a propositus or reeve of the town of Bristol, as his father
had been before him.

The origin of this elder Harding is not very clear. A MS.
in Berkeley Castle describes the father of Robert Fitzharding
as " ex regia prosapia regum Dacins." This is not definite
enough to be of any real value, and we must perforce begin
with Robert Fitzharding himself. Of the date of his birth,
which is not material, nothing is known. AVhat is certainly
known about him is that during Stephen's reign he gave
much assistance to the cause of Henry and Matilda, and that
he became richer in consequence. It seems, too, as certainly
a fact that in the year 1142 he began to build the "abbeye
at Bristowe, that of Saint Austin is," in hotiorem Dei, et pro
salute animcB siice. This date is fixed by the mention of the
fact (in Smyth's Lives of the Berkeley s) that King Henry II.
was nine years old at the time, having been born in 1 133.

The site chosen was near the spot where St. Jordan's Chapel
was erected ; as Leland writes : " ibique in magna area (prob-
ably College Green) sacellum in quo sepultus est S. Jordanus,
unus ex discipulis Augustini Anglorum Apostoli."

3

4 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Another tradition, seeking, no doubt, to account for the
dedication to St. Augustine, says that the building was on the
site of St. Augustine's oak.

This site was bought from Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who,
in right of his wife, was lord of the Castle of Bristol, and it
was part of the manor of Bedminster, a manor including the
vill of Redcliffe, and also that of Billeswick. P>om its position
on the rising ground it will be seen that the site was well
chosen, almost the best that could have been selected at that
time.

From a document at Berkeley Castle we learn that " upon
Easter day, the nth of April, in the 13th year of the reign of
King Stephen, in the year of our Lord 1148, the four Bishops
of Worcester, Exeter, Llandaff, and S. Asaph consecrated the
church and buildings, which the said Robert (Fitzharding) had
built near to the town of Bristol, dedicating them to (iod and
to St. Augustine, the English Apostle, then newly, by the said
Robert, built upon the manor of Billeswick, at the place once
called St. Augustine's Green ; and then, inducting the Abbot
and Canons, amongst other possessions, then endowed that
church and monastery by his deed which he laid down upon
the altar there, with the manor of Almondsbury, the manor of
Horfield, the manor of Ashleworth, the manor of Cromhall,
since called Cromhall Abbots ; and with divers lands and
tenements in Aslingham, with half of his fishings there, to
hold in frankalmoign, and willed in the same deed that the
same, upon his blessing, should quietly be enjoyed."

These dates are not to be accepted as quite certain, though
the facts seem sufficiently ascertained. The convent, no doubt,
was begun in 1142, but either the consecration in 11 48 is
too early, or the Christian names of the bishops are wrongly
given. The prelates who took part were, in all accounts, the
Bishops of Worcester, assisted by the Bishops of Exeter,
Llandaff, and St. Asaph, but their Christian names belong to
those of bishops some years later. Then, again, if the first
canons came from Wigmore, their introduction must have
been later than the ordinarily received date, as they could not
have come from thence before the year 11 79.

The first canons are said to have been brought from
Wigmore, and one of them was Richard, the first Abbot.
Fitzharding himself, during the last few years of his life,

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 5

was a canon of the monastery wliich he had caused to be
built.

In 1 155 Fitzharding, who had been enriched by a gift
from Henry II. of the lately forfeited estates of Roger de
Berkeley, could quite well say that the buildings were finished.
In all probability they had been finished in a slightly more
elaborate manner than had been originally intended by the
founder. The Chapter-house shows two styles of work, with
clearly indicated signs of later alterations to what had been
previously erected.

The canons, wherever they came from, were regular Augustine
canons of the order of St. Victor. They were considered to
be " the least ascetic of the monastic orders." For dress they
wore a long black cassock, a white rochet, a black cloak and
hood, together with a leather girdle, and square caps.

Their rules in brief were these. All property was relin-
quished by a postulant for admission, and a canon leaving the
order took nothing away with him. No property oftered for
acceptance could be accepted without the prior's sanction.
All quarrels and disagreements were to be referred to the
prsepositus, who also settled the punishment for contumacy.

Certain psalms were to be sung at the hours, and nightly
readings after vespers. Work was prescribed from the early
morning till sext. or noon: from noon till nones (/>., 3 p.m.)
reading was enjoined, and again after refection till vespers.
On any convent business two canons were to be sent, and no
eating or drinking was allowed to them while outside the house.
The rule was as binding on them when abroad as at home.
When at home idle talking and gossip was distinctly forbidden,
silence being enjoined. The rules provided for "all things
being held in common '' as an antidote to pride. Regulations
as to attention to the words of the service, and a prohibition
against using different words, abstention from offensive gait,
habit and gestures, staring at women, show that the canons
were no better than their brethren in the world. They were
even enjoined to go two together to preserve their modesty
when in a church where women were present. Fasting and
abstinence apparently led to malingering, and this was a
punishable offence. Washing of clothes was done at the order
of the superior, as was also washing of the person.

Minor regulations dealt with the treatment of the sick and

6 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

delicate, the obtaining of books at stated hours, impUcit
obedience to the superior, punishment for theft and other
offences. The superior was to rule by love rather than by
fear.

The oath taken by the abbots is interesting, and is here
given from Noake's History of Worcester Cathedral.

" Ye shall swere that ye shall be faithfull and tru, feith and
trouyth shal bere to the king our souvrain lord, and to hys
heyres, kings of Englonde of lyffe and lymme and earthly
worshippe for to lyffe and dye agenst all pepple, and diligentlie
ye shal be attendante unto ye kingis nedis and besoignes after
youre witt and power, and the kynges counsell ye shall kepe
and layne and trulie ye shal knowledge and the servyce due of
your monasterie of Seint Awsleyns besid Bristow the which ye
clame and holde of oure sov. lorde and kinge and the which he
geveth you and to hym and hys commandements in that to
you atteynoth and belongeth for your temporalities ye shall
be obeysant as God helpe you and his sayntis."

Founders' intentions in olden times were as a rule loyally
carried out, and there were then no commissioners to upset
their bequests. Robert Fitzharding's name was long kept in
remembrance on the anniversary, as will be seen by the
accompanying extract from " Abbot Newland's Roll," or rather
from the copy of it at Berkeley Castle.

" For which good lord Sir Robert our founder, and dame
Eva his wife, these be the special things due for them, besides
the general prayers, continually done in divine service by day
and by night : firstly a daily special prayer said for them and
all other foundators and benefactors, at the hour of seven in
the mornings and also daily prayers by name in our chapter-
house openly. Also they have other rites solemnly sung with
ringing on the eve of their anniversary, and on the morrow
commendations ; the abbot for the founder, and the prior for
the foundress, executing the divine service. On the morrow
of the day of the anniversary, an loo poor men be refreshed,
everyone of them having a canon's loaf of bread called a
myche, and 3 herrings therewith, and amongst them all two
bushels of pease : also another dole that day shall be given of
money, cake and loaves ; the abbot having a cake price four-
pence, with two castes of bread and fourpence for wine, the
prior, sub-prior, and almoner, everyone of them two cakes

THE HISTORY OF THE CHtlRCH. ^

price twopence each, with one cast of bread and twopence for
wine ; every secular servant of the household within the
monastery to have a penny cake and a cast of bread ; every
friar within every house of the four orders of Bristol to have a
loaf ; and likewise every prisoner within the gaol of Newgate of
Bristol, a loaf; and all the rest of the bread undealt to be
dealt at the gate of the said monastery among poor people,
and every man taking part of this dole shall have 40 days
pardon. And on the day of the anniversary of dame Eva his
wife, shall be dealt to 50 poor men, 50 loaves called myches,
with three herrings apiece, and amongst them all a bushel of
pease."

The charter of Maurice, the second Lord Berkeley, states :
" I, Maurice, son and heir of Sir Robert Fitzharding, have
granted and confirmed for the health of my soul and all my
ancestry, to the Church of St. Augustin, by Bristol, which
my lord and father hath founded, all such things which my
said father hath given and granted to the canons of the said
Church, viz. : within Berkeley Harness, Almondsbury, Horfield,
Ashleworth, and Cromhall, which he gave unto them when
he became and was a canon ; the which Sir Robert died
February 5, 1170, and was buried between the abbot's and
prior's stall, and next to the abbot's stall entering in the
choir, and Eva his wife was buried by him ; she died the
12th of March following."

The convent, together with the range of monastic buildings,
which were not destined to remain very long in their original
condition, comprised a cruciform church with a short choir
of three small bays, a square east end, transepts of the same
dimensions (as far as area is concerned) as those now in exist-
ence, a nave somewhat over 100 feet in length and including
aisles (which were half of the present width) 56 feet in width —
or, to compare it with the nineteenth century nave, 12 feet
shorter and 13 feet narrower, both of these being internal
measurements.

Whether the west front contained a Galilee porch, and whether
the belfries at this end were contained wholly or partly within
the plan, is a matter of complete uncertainty. The thickness
of the walls, as given by Mr. Street, was 5 feet 9 inches, but
it is difficult to see how even with this thickness the front
could have measured 85 feet in the fifteenth century, as stated

8 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

by William Wyrcestre, who wrote, " the length of the antiqiia
ecclesia (by which he probably meant the nave) is 80 gressus."
Interpreting this by his measurement of the width of the
choir and its aisles, 50 gressus, it would give the nave a length
of 100 feet, or thereabouts, to the eastern walls of the western
towers. He also says that there were two beffrays, but he does
not make it clear whether his length of 80 gressus included or
excluded the length of the space occupied by these beffrays.

Of Early English work the Elder Lady Chapel on the north
side of the north aisle is the chief specimen remaining, opening
into the north transept, but with a space between the wall
of the chapel and the wall of the Norman north choir aisle
(just as at Tewkesbury). This chapel is assigned by Mr.
Godwin to Abbot John (11 96-1 2 15), but it is probably the
work of the next abbot, David (12 15-1234), who was buried
in the chapel soon after his resignation of the Abbacy.

The Early English Lady Chapel was itself altered by the
insertion of a larger east window towards the end of the century,
probably in Hugh de Dodington's Abbacy (128 7-1 294)," and
under the supervision of Edmund Knowle, who was then
treasurer.^

There was more work done at this same period. Probably
alterations were made in the corresponding position in the
south transept, where the Newton Chapel now stands ; and
there were considerable traces of Early English work ruthlessly
destroyed, and removed to make room for the present modern
west front.

There are traces, too, in the Berkeley Chapel of some later
Early English work in the front of the table tomb in a recess,
in the north wall.

The canons at Bristol, in spite of their vows, never seem
to have enjoyed the reputation of keeping them, and, as was
the case elsewhere, trouble came upon them for breach of
rules. In 1236 some of the officers were removed by the
Bishop of ^Vorcester, and the Abbot himself thought it better
to resign. Again, in 1278, we find that Godfrey, Bishop of
Worcester, the visitor, found the abbey, both in temporal and

^ In Dallaway's edition of William Wyrcestre he terms this chapel
Bradeston's Chantry. The name probably refers to some other Early
English work which has disappeared, or it may mean that Bradeston
finished the chapel after Abbot David's resignation in 1234.

lO BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

spiritual matters, sadly deteriorated {daninabiliter prolapsujii),
and that he ordained that in future the canons should " not as
bees fly out of the choir as soon as service is ended, but return
to God thanks for their benefactors."

The bishop also found that the Abbot (John de Marina)
"was not sufficiently instructed to propound the word of God
in common, and appointed others in his stead." Greater
economy and decorum were ordered in the refectory — the
canons being admonished to refrain from " detraction and
obscene speech." The sick were to be better attended, but
malingering was under a special episcopal malediction, as it
was found that the canons were in the habit of feigning sickness
and congregating in the infirmary for the sake of " drinking
and surfeeting," and meeting with secular friends. The admis-
sion of the latter to the infirmary was forbidden, with the
exception of the physician and his servants.

The accounts seem to have been badly kept, and the Abbot
was advised to keep a disburser and a receiver of accounts, and
to dismiss Henry of the granary, Hugh the seller of corn, and
Roger the porter : further, to make all future servants swear to
be faithful in the fulfilment of their duties, and to see that
everything was in order by the next visitation.

Abbot Edmund de Knowle, who presided over the monastery
for twenty-six years (i 306-1332), was a feeble Abbot, but an
excellent architect, and to him we owe the design, and the
execution of the greater part, of the eastern half of the fabric.
He doubled the length of the Norman choir, and it will be
admitted that he has successfully grappled with the problem of
building a large, bright and cheerful choir, the very opposite of
its small, dull, and gloomy predecessor. His work is thoroughly
well planned, original in conception, and well carried out. It
has needed no restoring internally, and seems structurally as
sound as at the date of its completion.

The distinguishing feature of the eastern half is the equality
in height of the choir aisles and the choir itself.^

Abbot Knowle began his work eight years before he became
Abbot — probably as treasurer under Abbot Barry. Abbot

^ During the repaving of the choir, the foundations of the east end of the
Norman church were found a little to the east of the second pier from the
tower. They point to the fact that the east end was not apsidal but
square.

I

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. I I

Newland's Roll says : " He built the Church area from the
foundations, with the vestry," and that he " began that great
work the 6th day after the Assumption of Our Lady (Aug.
2ist), the hour of nine, the year of Our Lord 1298, the year
also of King Edward I. xxv."

Abbot Knowle, seeing that the Berkeleys, in whose castle
Edward II. was foully done to death, were friends and patrons
of his convent, refused to allow the king's body to be buried
in the convent, and this honour was secured by Abbot Thokey
for St. Peter's Abbey at Gloucester. It is only reasonable to
infer that if the Bristol convent had received the king's body,
the large sums of money that went subsequently to rebuild the
Gloucester choir would have found their way to Bristol, and
would have been devoted to the rebuilding of the nave.

Abbot Knowle died in 1332, apparently leaving the western
half still standing from the crossing to the west end, and
practically as Fitzharding had built it, but showing signs of
the decay hinted at in the Liber Aldus Vigorniensis of 131 1.
Knowle probably left plans and sketches of work which he had
intended to carry out, and his successor. Abbot Snow, would
seem to have finished the south choir aisle, assisted by a
Master of the Work who missed the master-mind of his late
architect. Abbot Knowle.

Thirty years later the nave was still said to be ruiiwsa — in a
dangerous condition — and we find that Maurice de Berkeley
obtained from Urban V. a bull granting forty days' indulgence
to every person who should hear mass in the Church of
St. Augustine, or say, kneeling, three Ave Marias, or should
contribute towards the repair of the said church, the same
being ruinous.

It has been usual to credit Abbot Snow with extensive
building operations, but it is difficult to see what he did, unless
he began at the west end and at the arches abutting on the
central tower, the arches which were pronounced by experts
in 1866 to be Decorated work. Abbot Snow was the first and
only Abbot who took his place in Parliament, and for some
reason or other he was the only person besides the founder
and his wife, and Robert, Lord Berkeley, who was com-
memorated as a benefactor ; but beyond the completion of
Abbot Knowle's work and the building of the Newton Chapel,
there is nothing to point to as his work. The reopening of

12 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

the new choir to its proper use may have been the reason of
his being commemorated.

During the twelve years of the abbacy of Ralph Ashe,
who petitioned successfully for exemption from attending
Parliament, alleging the poverty of the abbey and personal in-
convenience, Bristol passed through a troublous time. In 1349
the Black Death played havoc with the inhabitants, secular
and clerical alike. " Its ravages were fiercest in the greater
towns, where filthy and undrained streets afforded a constant
haunt to leprosy and fever. ... In Bristol the living were
hardly able to bury the dead. . . . Even when the first burst
of panic was over, the sudden rise of wages consequent on the
enormous diminution in the supply of free labour, though
accompanied by a corresponding rise in the price of food,
rudely disturbed the course of industrial employments :
harvests rotted on the ground, and fields were left untilled,
not merely from scarcity of hands, but from the strife which
now for the first time revealed itself between Capital and
Labour." 1

In Bristol, where the grass had grown high in the streets, the
monastery had suffered severely, and the numbers of the canons
(there were never more than twenty) were so diminished that
there were few left old enough to officiate as priests. This
state of things went on for some years, for in 1363 we find
that Abbot Coke obtained authority from the Pope (Urban V.)
to ordain priests of the age of twenty-two, by reason of the
scant numbers caused by the plague in the time of his
predecessor.

Abbot Coke was, as Britton says, quoting from Barrett, "a
religious man, professing the rule of St. Augustine and the
order of Canons Regular, instituted in the said monastery,
honest, of a lawful age, above thirty, in the order of priesthood,
and born in lawful wedlock," but in his short abbacy of ten
years, owing to the stagnation caused by the famine and the
pestilence, nothing seems to have been done to the fabric.
His successor, we are told in the Worcester Register, was so
extravagant, wasting the revenues and funds of the Abbey,
that Edward III. issued a mandate to the Bishop of Worcester
to visit the Abbey at Bristol. The Prior of Worcester, on the
death of his Bishop in 1374, finding that divine service at
^ Green, History of t lie E>tgUsh People.

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 1 3

Bristol was almost at an end, that alms-giving had ceased, and
that there was a possibility of the dissolution of the foundation,
issued various stringent ordinances. He provided that alms
should be given according to the possessions of the house ;
that the sick members should have better food than the rest ;
that seven of the canons should have charge of the seal of the
Abbey ; that the secular clerks of St. Mary's Chapel were to be
supported ; that five canons were to be elected to advise the
abbot in all temporal matters, and to supervise the collectors
and receivers of the Abbey revenues. These ordinances all
tend to prove that Abbot Shellingford was, besides being in-
competent, a most unlikely man to take any interest in the
fabric, and his two successors, Cerney (1388-1393) and
Daubeney (1393-1428), probably had to be extremely careful,
so as to recoup the Abbey for the lavish extravagance of their
reckless predecessor.

Meantime all the monasteries had been affected to some
extent by the controversies in which Wyclif took so active a
part, and by the teaching of that great preacher and his
followers. His attacks on the manifest abuses in the church
and on its constitution must have had some adherents from
among the members of our monasteries, who, not entirely
satisfied with blind and unquestioning obedience, had carefully
gone into the questions so ably set forth by Wyclif and his
"poor priests," and yearned passionately for that "spiritual
freedom," checked only by a sense of individual responsibility
to God. Wakefield, the Bishop of Worcester, writing in
1387, just before Cerney became Abbot of Bristol, rebuked his
" beloved sons, the archdeacons of (Gloucester and Worcester,"
as well as all his abbots, priors, deans, rectors, or vicars of
churches, for listening to unauthorised preachers, one of whom,
John Purvey, a Lincoln priest, had preached in Bristol with
marked success.

Bristol was almost as great a stronghold of Lollardism as
London, and its Lollards, though in some cases they abjured
their opinions, in others bravely suffered death. Lollardism
in the west of England was partly political, and in Bristol went
hand in hand with active hostiUty to the House of Lancaster,
but it had a great hold on the people, and its effects on them,
if not always apparent, nevertheless lasted long after WycliPs
death in 1384.

14 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

As the idea of a personal responsibility gradually grew, so
the desire for the collective life of a community diminished,
and the trade guilds and the monasteries went through a period
of partial disintegration. It is for this reason, probably, that
the canons were divided amongst themselves in the time of
Abbot Newbury, and that the malcontents ousted him in favour
of a spendthrift usurper for five years, and then gladly received
again the man in whom they felt they could trust.

\\^ith this Abbot building operations seem to have been con-
templated in earnest, judging from the fact that in 1466 the
Bishop of Bath and Wells granted him a lease of Dundry Quarry.
This Abbot is credited by Britton with the building of the
tower, and Mr. Street assigned the tower to some date between
1450 and 1470. Britton says : " It evidently belongs to his
{i.e. Newbury's) time ; and was perhaps finished by his suc-
cessor William Hunt, to whom may also be attributed the
upper part of the south transept, which was certainly raised
upon the walls of the Norman church."

Abbot Newland's Roll tells us that Abbot Hunt " did many
benefits for his time in building, and especially that he new let
make (caused to be made afresh) the whole roof of the Church
both the bowke (body) and of the iles of the same, and new
let cast (caused to be cast afresh) the lead for the same, from
the tower all eastward with our lady chapell."

This has been interpreted in different ways, but it probably
means that after the completion of the tower Abbot Hunt
finished Newbury's work by covering the roof with lead, a very
obvious course to pursue. He must have carried out extensive
works, as the abbey in 1481 was indebted to him for more than
^240. It is possible that he helped in finishing the work of
the central tower.

Abbot Hunt was succeeded by Abbot Newland, who
certainly remodelled the transept windows and some of the
vaulting, possibly that of the lantern.

In further confirmation of the above early date may be urged
the fact that William Wyrcestre, whose date must be assigned
to the year 1480, makes no mention of any recent works, or of
any in progress, nor of any hindrances to his measuring by
paces or by yards. It is not until 1491 that we get any hint of
inconvenience such as would be caused by any further re-
modelling of the transept roof. In that year we are told that

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 1 5

the choral service was held in the Elder Lady Chapel, but no
mention is unfortunately made of its being the first year or the
last year of the inconvenience. The item of intelligence seems
to point to the fact that some interior work in the transept
or the vaulting of the tower was in progress, and there was a
change in the office of Master of the Works exactly at this
time, Prior John Martyn succeeding to the place long occupied
by John Ashfield, who probably was disgusted with his treat-
ment, as his salary had been left unpaid for nearly twenty
years.

A document used to be preserved in the archives of the
Dean and Chapter giving a roll or series of accounts of the
officers of St. Augustine's Abbey during the year 1491-1492.
The establishment, which was always a small, one, numbered
seventeen persons exclusive of the Abbot, who was Treasurer
and Cellarer, viz. :■ —

John Martyn, the Prior, who was also Collector denari-
orum gratiae, Sacrista, et Magisfer Novi Operis ; Thomas
Greene, Sub-Prior and Camerarius ; Henry Griffiths, Canoni-
cus et Presbyter; Henry Brugges, Collector Redituum Villae
Bristolliie, and also Collector reditus Anniversarii, et Elemosyn-
arius, Canonicus et Presbyter; John Dinham, Thomas Gierke,
Refectorarius ; William Hobbes, Gustos Infirmarii ; William
Crekelade, Custodiens Officium Precentoris ; and Robert
Elyot, Coquinarius et Hostillarius. All these were Canonici
et Presbyteri, the other eight were Novitiati.

Though there was no building in progress in 1492, for some
little time material was being collected by Martyn, as his
account showed that waggon loads of stone were being
carted from Dundry Quarry. This quarry had been sub-let
for two years on condition that the tenants delivered 40
waggon loads of stone at Redcliff Hill. Martyn's account
also has the charges for 80 loads of freestone at 2s. 6d. a load,
and twenty loads of "Ragges" at i2d. a load ; also 53s. 4d. for
the carriage of 160 loads from Redcliff Hill to the porch of the
old church in the sanctuary of the monastery of St. Augustine.

It is not till 1498 that the expenses of the monastery begin
to show any abnormal increase, and this probably indicates the
commencement of building work.

About the same time, or shortly before it, the domestic
buildings seenv to have been undergoing alterations. The

1 6 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Abbey gateway, from the fact that upon it were the arms of
Abbots Newland and Elyot, seems to have been partially
rebuilt in the same limit of time — i.e. 1480-1520, possibly
having been begun by Newland and finished by his successor,
the lower portion being work of the Transitional Norman
period.

Abbot Newland is also to be credited with the other Per-
pendicular work which was done in the north transept — viz.,
the arch into the north aisle of the nave that was intended to
be built. Whatever parts he planned and did not carry out
may be safely assigned to his successor Elyot, 15 15-1526.

From an addition made later to the copy of Abbot New-
land's Roll at Berkeley Castle, it seems clear that Abbot Newland
actually began his new nave, for it says that "the walls were
carried up as far as the sills of the windows. His work was
built up outside the antiqiia ecdesia mentioned by \Villiam
\\'yrcestre, and seems to have been brought to a standstill by
lack of funds."

This work was taken down to the foundations and carried
away for other uses, together with the masonry of the Norman
nave in 1543. These foundations were assigned to Abbot
Knowle by Mr. Street. ^

To Abbot Somerset (152 6- 1536) was due a new doorway into
the Abbey, made by cutting through the north wall of the
Elder Lady Chapel in the westernmost bay. It was a good
specimen of late Perpendicular work, and it bore the Abbot's arms
upon it. In the recent restoration by Mr. Pearson, this door-
way, being superfluous, disappeared altogether.

Disputes again between the Abbey and the town were rife
in Abl:)ot Somerset's time. Distresses were levied on two
choristers who had refused to pay the King's silver. The
Abbot promptly arrested the officers who had thus trespassed
in his jurisdiction ; as promptly the Mayor in retaliation
imprisoned the Abbey retainers, and kept them in spite of
attempted rescue. After this dispute followed litigation and
arbitration, and the award was that the choristers should pay
the taxes, and that both sides should set free their prisoners.
Furthermore it was agreed that the Mayor and Council should
resume their usual attendance in the Abbey, but that, in token

' Further notes on the history of the nave will be found on p. 37 sqq.,
where they are necessary to explain the origin of the present building.

TIIK HISTORY OF TIIK (irURCII. 1/

of the Al)bot'.s full submission, he and his successors should
thenceforth on Easter Day in the afternoon, and on Easter
Monday in the morning, meet them at the door of the
grammar school at Frome Gate, and accompany them to
the Abbey.

We are told that Cranmer visited Bristol in 1532, and
" tarried there nineteen days ; reforming many things that
were amiss, and preached in St. Augustine's Abbey and other
places." To his agency, no doubt, the constitution of a
bishopric at Bristol is mainly due, the See of Bristol not
being found on the list of projected Sees in the Cottonian
MSS. in the British Museum.

During the few years that now remain to be chronicled
( 1 530-1 539) nothing was apparently done to the fabric.
Abbot AVilliam Morgan, if only half of the ill deeds attributed
to him by Fuller and Speed are true, seems to have turned
his attention to other matters. He may have foreseen what
was in store for the monastery, as in Bristol the White Friars'
house had already been, dissolved, and that of the Austin
Friars,^ at Temple Gate, had been spoiled of everything by the
dishonesty of its prior.

To Abbot Burton (1536-1537) was due some interior work
in the way of ornamentation on the cresting in the Lady Chapel,
and the work bears his rebus.

The Perpendicular work in the north alley of the cloister
seems to have been built upon the site of the south aisle of the
original Norman church, or at any rate on a part of it, and this
therefore gives an approximate date for the beginning of the
removal of the Norman building, wliich was still standing in
1492.

It was thought by Mr. Godwin that Abbot Newland, after
thus beginning with the south side of the church, removed the
whole of the Norman church, and intended to rebuild the
western half of the building. Canon Norris always held the
opinion that the nave remained standing until after the dis-
solution of the monastery in 1539; and Professor Freeman
thought it was destroyed between 1539 and the foundation of
the bishopric in 1542. These latter two views are borne out
by Barrett, who says that the nave was stripped of its leaden

' This was an extensive foundation, with large buildings, according to the
measurements of Wyrcestre.

C

1 8 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

roof and became ruinous, but that the King's order that the
sounder half of the building should be a cathedral interrupted
the despoilers. The obvious course to take with a nave which
had been ruinous since 131 1 was to demolish it, and this was
so carefully done that nothing was left of it but the two sets of
foundations, — those of Fitzharding's nave, measuring 100 feet
by 56 feet, and outside them the foundations of what was
formerly thought to be Abbot Knowle's new nave, but which,
if we rely upon Abbot Newland's Roll, must in fairness be
assigned to that notable builder.

The town which, on previous occasions, had quarrelled with
the Abbey, and not without reason, probably had no feelings
of regret when Abbot Morgan resigned his Abbey to the King's
Commissioners, receiving a pension of ;^8o, or a little more
than an eighth part of the nett revenue of the monastery, and
was certainly rejoiced to find itself raised to the dignity of a
cathedral city.

Within a couple of years from the date of the dissolution of
the house the King's Charter founded a bishopric, Paul Bush
being the first bishop,

Cranmer's conception of what a religious foundation ought
to be, was based on the combination of family life and fellow-
ship in worship. There was to be a strong body (numerically)
in residence within the Cathedral precincts. As in the colleges
in the universities, there was to be a common dinner in the
refectory for those who wished to attend. Every member of
the community was to have his appointed place and duty in
the church, and the praises of God were to be daily sung with
perpetual jubilation. The grammar school was to be open to
any boys whose parents might wish them to be educated with
the choristers, but the school w^ork was to be extended in
scope, and the theological training of students for ordination
was to be superintended by lecturers in Theology, Greek, and
Hebrew.

Archbishop Cranmer's ideal scheme was entirely upset by
Archbishop Laud, who encouraged the canons to hold
benefices elsewhere, and to come into residence only when
required by their turn.

Those who wish to see in a plan the arrangements of the
Cathedral should consult Browne Willis' Survey, 1727. Briefly,
they were as follows. The high altar was placed at the extreme

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. TQ

east end of the Lady Chapel, under Abbot Knowle's reredos ;
an organ-screen of stone (now in mutilated fragments in the
cloisters) was erected across the choir, two bays east of the
space under the central tower. An antechapel was thus
formed, in which, close to the organ-screen, were the pews for
the Mayor and Corporation. Between the civic pew and the
north-east pier of the tower was a pew, and at the foot of the
north-east pier was the font.^

In Mary's reign, when the official religion was again for a few
years Roman Catholicism, the cathedral was enriched by
Royal presents, the receipt for which is given by Britton.

" Memorandum. Rec'^* the first of Maye 1555, by Cloude
the Carier, of the gift of the King and the Queene's most
excellent ma'^"^ to the Cath. Church of Bristol, the Copes,
Vestments, etc., following : —

" Imprimis 3 Copes, one of Rredd Satten with streaks of
gold. Another of yellow velvet. Another of blewe velvet. Item
3 Aulter ffronts an. of yellow velvet an. red satten with
streaks of gold. Another of blewe velvet and yellow satten.
Another of violet velvet and grene satten."

In Elizabeth's reign the Dean and Chapter had a com-
munication from three Commissioners in London with refer-
ence to the demolition of roods, images, and other ornaments
of popish worship. Britton gives the letter as follows : —

" After our hartie comendacons. — Whereas we are credibly
informed that there are divers tabernacles for Images as well
in the fronture of the Roodeloft of the Cath^* Church of
Bristol, as also in the frontures back and ends of the walles
wheare the comh table standeth, forasmuch as the same Church
shoulde be a light and good example to th'ole Citie and Dioc.
we have thought good to direct these oure Ires unto you and
to require you to cause the said Tabernacles to be defaced,
hewen down and afterwards to be made a playne walle w*''*
morter plast'" or otherways and some scriptures to be written in
the places and namely that upon the walle on the east ende of
the quier wheare the comh table usually doth stande the table
of the comand*'* to be painted in large caracters with con-
venient speed, and furniutre according to the orders latly set
forth by vertue of the Quenes ma*^" coiiiission for causes

^ Britton's plan, given on p. 36, is practically identical with that of
Browne Willis, but more exact.

20 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

ecclesiastical at the coste and chardges of the said churche
whereof we require you not to faile. And so we bed you fare-
well, ffrom London the xxi of December 1561."

By i5^3> when the space of what had been the nave was
cleared, a " small tenement had been erected over the arched
vault or cellar which adjoins the south entrance into the
present church. It had been inhabited by William Blomer,
the sub-sacrist. The vault ^ was probably the strong room of
the sacristy of the old church, and had been preserved and
built over after the adjacent western parts of the old church
had been destroyed" (Britton). In that year, too, the first
lease of the space for building purposes was granted.

"In 1629 a new west window was made, an organ was
built, and other works were executed in the Cathedral, by means
of voluntary contributions." This statement, made by Britton,
may mean either that the previous window had become ruinous,
or that it was a wmdow which had not existed before. In the
first case it would seem that the window it replaced must have
been of very poor workmanship, if it dated from 1542, a
possible date for its insertion. If it was a new window put in
in 1629, it was of equally poor, or worse, workmanship, for a
new one was required in 1710.

During the Civil Wars the Mayor, Walter Deyos, had the
lead stripped from the roof and from the cloisters, but, as was
the case at Gloucester, other members of the Corporation pre-
vented further destruction to the fabric. In 1655 the lead was
ordered to be sold and the proceeds applied to the repair of
the building, and by 1663 it was said of the Cathedral that it
was " new mended and flourished."

In 1670 some ;^i3oo was expended on the church and the
prebendal houses, and between the years 1 681-1685 the
pavement was repaired ^ and the east end of the choir painted.

Browne WilUs, in his careful survey of the Cathedral, made
in 1727, wrote of it: "It is truly no elegant structure, being
reputed one of the meanest Cathedrals in the kingdom ; how-
ever, by the generosity and zeal of the present set of members,
it is so well adorned that it wants for no Cost or Art to render

' This vault proved that the original church had aisles to its nave, as ihese
cellars would have interfered with the ordinary use of the cloister. From
its position it cannot have been the sacristy.

'■^ The repaying was done at the expense of Edward Colston.

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 21

it beautiful, and is daily unproving, and may be said to be kept
in as good repair as any church whatsoever." Further on he
says:

"The whole structure is kept so decent that the example of
this chapter is worthy to be recommended to the imitation of
our richest and most ancient Cathedrals."

After the rioting and incendiarism of 1831, the chapter seem
to have thought that the houses built on the site of the
destroyed nave and aisles were a possible danger to the rest of
the building, and in 1835 these houses were demolished.

In 1840 the stone reredos beneath the east windows of
the Lady Chapel was restored to a semblance of its former
glory. Britton, in his Bristol of 1830, had pointed out quite
intelligibly what the central ogee arch, as planned by Knowle,
must have been before it was mutilated, to make room for
a tasteless wooden erection with Corinthian columns, etc.

In 1852 the choir was restored as to its chancel windows,
with the exception of that at the east end. The stonework was
in a lamentable condition, and the glass was in the main a
tentative arrangement by workmen quite ignorant of the
subjects of the windows. After rearranging the glass, the
deficiencies were made good at a cost of nearly ;^i5oo. Then
the roof was put in order, and over ;^65oo spent on internal
decoration, much of which might well have been left undone.

The old bishop's throne was removed, and the old stalls
were rearranged under Dean Elliott's regime. This involved
the insertion of much new work, which, however, was restored
out of the church by Mr. Pearson when the stalls were recon-
structed by him.

Mr. Godwin himself, appreciating the unsafe condition of
the tower at the time of the restoration of i860, proposed
that one bay only of the nave should be built. This proposal
included the building of a Galilee porch at the west end,
and it seems probable that had such a proposal been enter-
tained, the idea of a complete nave w-ould never have been
suggested subsequently.

Dean Elliott planned a reseating of the Cathedral with a
view to the accommodation of more worshippers, and called
in Mr. Gilbert Scott to make suggestions, together with Messrs.
Pope and Bindon. The Dean's plans were effectively carried
out, and the Cathedral was temporarily reduced to the level

22 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

of a parish church of medium size. It is, of course, very
easy to criticise what was done at that time, but bearing in
mind that the alterations involved the total destruction of the

THE WEST END IN 1817.

(From Storer's Cathedrals of G)-cat Britain, vol. i.)

organ screen of 1540, partial destruction of the stalls, which
were placed further to the east, and the insertion of an entirely
new screen, insipid in character, across the eastern arch of

I

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.

23

the tower, it seems that the cost was quite disproportionate to
the result obtained. No one in i860, except, perhaps, Canon
Moseley and a few of his intimate friends, indulged in the
dream that a new nave would come into existence, and that
the alterations and improvements of i860 would have to be
considerably modified. Much trouble and expense would
have been saved had the alterations been omitted and the

,

,

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VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-EAST IN 183O,

(From Biitton's Cathedrals.)

question of rebuilding the nave been more prominently and
persistently brought forward.

In 1865 the tower showed signs of a settlement, and it
was decided to strengthen it by under-pinning it. The piers
were rebuilt through at least half their thickness, and the
masonry in the soffits repaired and where necessary replaced.
Ten years later, under Mr. Street's advice the battlements
and pinnacles were removed, being condemned as unsafe,
and the tower remained for some years in this forlorn
condition.

24 BRISTOL CATHEnRAL.

Outside the Cathedral more changes were made. The Cor-
poration purchased the greater part of the then Deanery, as
the site was required for the new road to the Hotwells. In
lowering the road in front of the Cathedral, traces were found
of what was supposed to be the original Norman nave as well
as the remains of the foundations of Abbot Newland's new
nave. This discovery induced Canon Norris to make his appeal
to the public for subscriptions for the rebuilding of the nave.
Meetings were held and committees formed, and in a year's
time money to the amount of ^13,200 was collected, and
the architect (Mr. G. E. Street) reported on the architecture
of the existing portion of the Cathedral with a view to the
completion of the building as a whole.

Early in 1868 the foundation stone was laid underneath
the pier of the north-west tower, or, as it has been called since,
Bishop Butler's tower. For years the work of building went
on, and in October 1877, after a special appeal for funds had
been made, the nave was opened for use with great ceremony,
the opening services lasting for two days. The Bishops of
Gloucester and Bristol, and Bath and Wells, together with
the Deans of Canterbury and Westminister, took part m the
services.

But though the nave was thus formally opened after nearly
^^48,000 had been expended, the building was not by any means
complete. Owing to the dissolution of the Building Committee,
the chapter itself went on with the work, and it was not till 1888
that the new portion of the church, the major part of it in
actual area, was really finished. In that year, June 21st, a
special dedication service was held.

In 1888 the chapter decided to restore the Abbey Gateway
and the adjoining tower. This work, which occupied a space
of five years, was done by Mr. Pearson, who was, after the
death of Mr. Street, appointed architect to the chapter.

The north transept was " thoroughly restored " in 1890, and
the Colston window — the glass by Powell & Sons, of Whitefriars,
London — was given by the Dolphin Society.

Two years later, at a meeting held in the hall of the
Merchant Venturers, it was resolved to restore the central tower
and the Elder Lady Chapel.

In 1892 the restoration of the Early English Lady Chapel
was undertaken by Mr. J. L. Pearson, and completed in 1894.

THE HISTORY OF THE CIIURCIT. 2$

For years it had been in a ruinous condition, and, as Britton
expressed it, useless.

In 1893 the restoration of the tower was begun. As had
been done four hundred years before, Dundry stone was used
where new stone was required, and the tower was rebuilt after
the model of its predecessor. The aged appearance of much
of the masonry is more apparent than real — for though some
of the old stones were religiously reused, some of the new
stone has, owing to the acid vapours contained in the Bristol
smoke, already begun to crumble away in places.

In 1899 the long-talked-of reredos was erected at a cost of
;^2 5oo, as a memorial of the long episcopate of Dr. EUicott,
Bishop of (Gloucester, who from 1 863-1 S98 was also Bishop of
Bristol.

Dedication. — As its name sufficiently indicated, the original
dedication was to God and St. Augustine, but at the dissolution
of the monastery the Cathedral, like the Abbey of St. Peter at
Gloucester, was dedicated to " the Holy and Individed Trinity."

Arms. — The arms of the See are the same as those used by
the previously existing monastery — viz., sable, three ducal crowns
in pale or.

Bells. — The bells in the tower are of great interest, as
some of them are of Pre-Reformation date. Two of them
have upon them the arms of Abbot Newland or Nailheart
(1481-1515). The inscription on the smallest is as follows : —
Sancte Clemens, ora pro nobis \ on the next in size is the
inscription, Sancta Margareta, ora pro nobis. Both of these
have also the initials and the arms of Abbot Newland, and
they date probably from i486. On the third bell is the
legend, Clara vocor, et clarior ero. The fourth and largest
bell has upon it, Eaiesia Cathedralis Bristoll domum Domini,
with the date 1670, with the initials of the founder, R. Purdue,
and his mark, two bells, and lower down the words Congregate
ca'tum solenneni in domum Dofnini, with the date 1670 and
R. P. repeated.

In diameter these four bells are respectively 2 8 J, 31^, 35 J,
48|- inches.

Mr. EUacombe, in his Bells of Gloucestershire, quotes an
extract from a receiver's account of 3 and 4 Philip and Mary,
showing that there were ten bells, but this does not tally with
an earlier account also quoted by him : " That this bylle in-

26

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

dented the 27"' daye of Maye witnesseth that the Deanc
and Chappitor of the Cathedrall Church of Bristole have
received of Wm. Chester, Mayor, and other the Kings
Majesties Commissioners .... It'" one great belle for the
clock and four other bells.'' The fifth bell was sold in Dean
Layard's time.

INITIALS AND MONOGRAM OF THOMAS WRIGHT (RECEIVER TO THE
CHAPTER ON ITS FIRST FOUNDATION).

From the spandrels of the doorway to tliu Choir, now preserved in the Cloister (sec p. 54).

mimw

S. B. Boias ^r' Co., Photo.]

THE CENTRAL TOWER AND SOUTH TRANSEPT.

CHAPTER II.

THE EXTERIOR.

The exterior of the Cathedral is, as a whole, its least interest-
ing part. Practically half of the length is new — i.e., built since
1866 ; the other half has already been or is about to go through
a severe course of restoration.

The West Front, which is imposing from its mass, and
suggests faint reminiscences of Notre Dame in Paris, seems to
want more height in the towers ^ than is given by the little turrets
at the corners. Then, again, the actual door with the low straight
lintel is very small, and is further dwarfed by the size of the
opening of the doorway.

Above the gable of the doorway, which is heavily crocketed,
is a balustrade of small arches carrying a rather solid coping,
enriched with very small battlements. This balustrade partly
obscures the rose-window from view. Above the rose-window,
the mouldings of which have been kept severely simple, rises
the most graceful part of the west front. The delicacy of the
carvings has unfortunately begun to suffer from exposure to
noxious vapours.

At either corner of the front rises a tower, that on the north-
west being known as Bishop Butler's tower, its companion on
the south-west being termed the Colston tower. Both towers
are almost the same in their general plan and in their details,
the middle section in each — that lighted by the four narrow-
lancet-shaped windows — being the plainest, or least ornamented.

Above the buttresses at the angles of the front, each of which
is surmounted by a florid cross, rises the main portion of the

' An illustrated guide to Bristol of 1875 shows the western towers, each
with a Mansard roof. Such a treatment would have given a more
picturesque effect to the west front and to the 19th century work.

29

30 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

towers. Each face contains two lofty windows with louvres,
and at either side of the central windows a blind panel, with
mouldings similar to those in the other windows. These blind
panels are rather cramped in appearance. Over each light is
a small gable with crockets and a finial. The finials are in-
geniously worked in with a course of carved work.

The battlements are left quite plain, and are relieved only by
the small turrets at the corners. In the north-west tower the
north-east turret — i.e., that nearest the north porch — is carried
up a few feet higher than the others. It is built partly in the
angle of the tower and partly outside it, and thus gives a little
relief to the general squareness of the tower. The same remark
applies to the south-east corner of the Colston tower.

On the Butler or north-west tower are carved figures, that to
the north-west representing St. Michael, and that to the south-
west St. Gabriel, that to the south-east the Angel of Praise. The
Colston tower bears at the north-east corner the Angel of the
Gospel, at the north-west St. Raphael, at the south-west Uriel,
the Angel of the Sun.

These two towers would have looked far better had there been
no central tower left on the older portion of the Cathedral. As it
is, they seem somehow to challenge comparison with the rest of
the building.

Passing round to the south side there are a few traces to be
seen of what was once the external wall of the west walk of the
cloisters. The north walk of the cloisters, which was chiefly
Perpendicular work — dating to Abbot Elyot's time, partly built
on the site of the earlier cloister and partly on the site of the
original Norman south aisle — has been for the most part rebuilt.
Formerly there was a door (marked A in the plan) pierced
in what was then the west wall of the south transept. The
new door is south of the new south aisle of the nave, and some
20 feet south of the position of the earlier door. It was found
necessary when the nave was rebuilt to provide a new door for
entrance to the cloisters from the church.

The Central tower was rebuilt, according to Britton, in the
abbacy of Walter Newbury, and from the grant of a lease of a
quarry at Dundry from the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1466 it
may have been done soon after that date. The tower of the
original church was probably built after the manner of the
grand central tower at Tewkesbury.

THE EXTERIOR. 3 I

At Bristol the rebuilding of the tower does not, as at
Gloucester, seem to have involved much reconstruction of the
upper part of the tower piers. The piers had been reduced in
bulk or remodelled by an architect some years before — possibly
Knowle himself — and upon these reduced or remodelled piers
Newbury set himself to build a new tower. Gloucester
Cathedral tower had just lately been built under Abbot
Seabrook 1450-1457, and the same workmen may have
worked upon it ; but the two towers will not bear comparison.

One explanation of the word riiinosa may be hazarded here.
It is possible that some defect or slight settlement in the tower
piers, which are cased work filled with rubble, may have been
the reason why the tower was, in the early fourteenth century,
taken down, perhaps to the level of the then existing roof.
This would have made it easy work for the remodelling of the
tower piers, the bulk of the weight above being gone, though
the reckless mediaeval builders would not have shrunk from
remodelling the piers with the tower still m its place. Mr.
Robert Hall Warren pointed out to the writer that in the will
of Henry Calf, Burgess of Bristol, dated May 26, 1394, money
was left to the Abbot and Convent of St. Augustine of Bristol,
"yyr the work of the Campanile." This, of course, cannot
be taken to mean for a tower then building, as the style
settles that question once for all, and therefore can only refer
to a contemplated work. The reference certainly bears out the
early date proposed by Britton and endorsed by Mr. Street.

The chief feature in the tower is the arrangement of the
windows, five on each face. In this way the slight difference
in the measurements of the tower, which is in reality an oblong
and not a perfect square, is rendered practically imperceptible.

From the space enclosed by the cloister to the north-east, an
interesting view can be got of the south transept, with its
plain, simple battlement and its dignified corner turrets, with
the central tower of the nave beyond. Unfortunately most of
the surface of the stonework of the walls has been renewed,
and the character of the building pro tanto damaged. A still
better view is to be got from the south-east corner of the
churchyard attached to the precincts, though here, too, the
hand of the restorer has been busy.

The east end of the church abuts on a short road leading
into Trinity Street. There is no smipler piece of building in

32 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

the whole fabric. It is plain, good, honest work, and carries the
date of its building quite legibly. From the street the tracery
of the east window can be examined more readily than from
within the Lady Chapel.

On the north side, at a sufficient distance, the difference
between the old and the new, between the Decorated choir
and the twelfth century Lady Chapel, and the nineteenth century
nave, separated by the grand mass of the central tower, may
be studied. The chief feature of the exterior here, as a whole,
is the array of buttresses of widely- varying character. Those
of the choir are massive, sturdy, and simple, without a particle
of adventitious ornament. They are carried up boldly and
solidly to the height considered necessary by the architect, and
they are simply and neatly finished off with a small gable.

Previous to the restoration of the Elder Lady Chapel there
was a doorway, Late Perpendicular in character, made in the
time of Abbot Somerset, but altered for the worse by later
hands. Li the spandrels on the left side were the arms of the
Berkeley family, and on the right those of Somerset impaled
with those of the Abbey.

The buttresses of the Early English or Elder Lady Chapel
are Decprated, and somewhat slighter, as there is less weight
to sustain, and they are finished with two pinnacles apiece,
bridged together by a light flying buttress of small dimensions.
At the north-east corner, which is solidly built as a square,
is a pinnacle, which evidently was Early English originally, but
has not been improved by restoration.

At the corners of the north transept the buttresses used to
be the same, but under Mr. Pearson's hands the westernmost
corner has been considerably weighted and strengthened —
deepened, in fact, from top to bottom. The buttress at the
eastern corner has also been strengthened, but not to quite the
same extent, the topmost portion showing the amount of the
original projection. In these two additions to the north front
the dissimilarity is glaringly striking to the eye.

Glancing westwards to the nineteenth century nave, the eye
again meets buttresses, but of a type far inferior to those that
support the walls of the choir. It is perfectly well known that
the architect of the nave did not wish to slavishly copy the
fourteenth century architect's work, but the effect of the added
feature— the attenuated flying buttress— is not happy. Another

THE EXTERIOR. 33

point against these flying buttresses is that they are in too
cramped a situation to tell very much as an external feature —
the space between the north porch and the north transept being
rather confined. This will be more easily admitted by anyone
who will compare them with those on the more open south side.

In the treatment of the parapet on the new nave, as com-
pared with those on the choir and on the tower, a point has
been scored. They are of pierced work, quatrefoils, between
two moulded string-courses. On the choir and the central
tower the cresting takes the form of battlements. These, of
course, are not original. Mr. J. G. Holmes discovered some
fragments of wrought stonework in the south-east pinnacle of
the choir. On piecing them he found them to be portions of
a late fourteenth century traceried rail or battlement with
which portions of the building had been adorned.

The North Porch, which occupies the space between two
buttresses, though of modern workmanship — 1873 — is already
historic. The Mayor of Bristol (W. K. Wait, M.P.), in that
year offered to defray the cost of the north porch, to be built
according to the design of Mr. Street that had been exhibited
in the Academy in 1868. His offer was accepted, and in due
course the work was begun. When the work was approaching
completion in 1876 some zealot discovered what might have
been known years before by anyone examining the original
design — viz., that the figures were those of St. Gregory,
St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine. Fancying that the
work of the Reformation was thus to be made of no effect, a
faction sprang up with a rabid bitterness of words and potential
deeds, whose sole object was the removal of the so-called
images. Much ill-feeling was caused, and it had the result of
breaking up the Building Committee, thus throwing additional
work and responsibility on the Dean and Chapter. Acting
like a dens ex machifia, the Dean, fortified with a vote of three
to two in a chapter of five, decreed the removal of the figures,
and in their stead were eventually placed the four Evangelists.
Storms on inland seas are proverbially dangerous, and had not
the Dean intervened, there is no doubt that some fanatic, fancy-
ing himself to be the representative of the Protestantism of the
West of England, would have offered more violence to Redfern's
inoffensive figures. The offending Fathers found a ([uieter
home at East Hesterton Church in Yorkshire.

D

.V. li. Bolas^' Co., Photo.]

THE NAVK — EASTWARD VIEW.

.V. B. /•o/as£r'ClK,P/!OhJ.]

FRIEZE ON THE TOMB IN THE BERKELEY CHAPEI.,

CHAPTER III.

THE INTERIOR THE NAVE.

The Norman Nave of Fitzharding's original church seems,
according to William Wyrcestre's measurements (temp. Edward
IV.) to have been io6| feet, but according to Mr. Street's
careful measurement of the original foundations, when laid quite
bare in 1866, 109 feet long and 5 feet thick. The width of the
old nave was 56 feet, and its aisles were narrow, with low lean-
to roofs. ^

A seal of the time of Abbot John shows the building with a
narrow aisle, with low lean-to roofs and a row of round-headed
windows in the south aisle of the nave as well as in the
clerestory. This is probably quite a fancy picture, and may
have been engraved by a foreign workman who drew largely
upon his imagination, as he gives lofty spires at the corners
of the south transept.

Britton in his plan, shown on p. 36, indicates the existence

^ This conjectural history of the nave is placed here as introductory to
the description of the existing nave.

TND PLAN IN 1828. {Vram V.fhUms Ca^/i£dra/s.)

THE INTERIOR. 37

in the place wlierc the south aisle of the nave would be, of what
he calls cellars or a small crypt, and shows the steps by which
access was given to these cellars.

William Wyrcestre's measurements, given above, certainly
point to the fact that there was a nave in his time. He dis-
tinctly calls it the aniiqua ecclesia, as it would be in comparison
with Abbot Knowle's work and that of his successors, who, a
hundred years later, resumed work on the building. If the nave
had not been in existence, William Wyrceslre would have said
something about the ruins.

In his History of Bristol, p. 289, Barrett says: "There is a
tradition extant that the west part was demolished to the tower
in the great confusion during the reign of Henry VIII., and
the materials sold and disposed of before the king had deter-
mined to convert it into a cathedral and a bishop's see." This,
however, is tradition only, and nothing more. It may have
had its origin in the fact that a later mayor, Deyos by name,
stripped off much of the lead roof.

There is no direct evidence now in existence to show how
far Abbot Knowie had progressed, but from the fact that
Britton's plan (which was very carefully drawn) indicates the
existence of the first bay of the nave in the same style as the
Decorated choir,^ and also from the fact that Canon Norris and
others saw evidence of Abbot Knowle's w'ork in the alterations
made in the prior's lodging, it may be assumed that Abbot
Knowie did what other builders have done — viz., began at both
ends of his nave.

Another formed attempt at an explanation was that Oliver
Cromwell posted a battery on Brandon Hill during the siege
of 1643-1645. This theory breaks down chiefly from the
fact that Brandon Hill was a Royalist battery.

Britton says: "Although it is not easy to explain when and
on what account the nave and aisles were demolished, we may
presume it was anterior to the Dissolution."

This conclusion, as far as it relates to the time, seems borne
out by the fact that the Perpendicular north alley of the cloister
w^as partly built on the site of the original south aisle of the
nave. It is not easy to see why the nave should be called
'ruinous,' and described as altogether in a dangerous con-

^ See p. 22, where the plate from Storer's Britisli Cathedrals shows the
arch of this first bay.

38 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

dition in 131 1, considering that it was standing up to and after
William Wyrcestre's time. Possibly the word may be a slight
exaggeration, a thing not unusual in monastic documents and
literature. The building was far more likely to tumble
down after the nave had been taken away, and had
it not been solidly built, this undoubtedly would have
happened. There was not much support in the low houses
that were built up against the tower and transepts after the
masonry of the Norman nave and that part built by Abbot
Elyott had been removed.

The Abbot (or monk) who added a short account of
Newland's work to his Roll wrote : " This reverend Father,
Abbot John Newland, did many honorable dedis in his tyme
in bilding of v new barnys at ... . and other manors. Also
the said Reverend Father in his tyme bilded the dortor and
fraytor, the Priore's logginge, the gatehouse, the Amery with
the logginges next adioynant, the heybarne, the stabilles ioyning
to the malthouse, with the fiuidacioun of the body of the Church
to the soilis of the ivyndos of the north side and the %vest end
with other houses of office and many othir grete benefytes for
the which Ciod reward hym with eternal blisse. Amen."

If the copy made of the Roll that used to be at Berkeley
Castle is genuine and exact, this seems the last word on the
long-debated question of the history of the nave. Abb't
Newland probably built his new nave wall outside the wall that
was still standing of the earlier church.

Abbot Newland's predecessor (Abbot Hunt) had just finished
enlarging or rather rebuilding the church of St. Augustine the
Less in 1480, and this would almost point to the fact that the
Abbot wished to have this church, which was originally built
for parishioners of Billeswick, finished before any very con-
siderable building operations were begun at the Abbey.

Abbot Newland's work on the nave cannot have progressed
very much, and the Roll says exactly how much was done. It
was costly work to do even then, and it is interesting to find
that Maurice VI., Lord of Berkeley, in his will 1521, in Abbot
Elyot's time, left a " great portion of money towards the build-
ing of the body of the church of the monastery of St. Augustine."
Another Lord Berkeley (Thomas V.) in 1532, who was buried
in the Abbey, left money for work on the fabric.

Leaving, then, once for all the question of the old nave, we

THE INTERIOR. 39

come to the new nave. It appears that Canon Moseley in 1857
prophesied the building of a new nave in the future, but that
few people in Bristol dreamed of more than a nave consisting
of a couple of bays.

In 1865, when the road in front of the Cathedral was lowered
several feet, the actual foundations of the old nave were disclosed,
together with what was then considered to be Abbot Knowle's
foundations for a new nave. Canon Norris then set to work,
and in the following year he appealed to the public for assist-
ance in building a complete nave, not merely one or two bays.
Mr. Street was the architect who was called in, and his mandate
was practically to build a nave such as Abbot Knowle would
have built had he lived. Whether this has been done or not
is a difficult question to decide. Mr. Street himself said that
he wished to build a nave in harmony with Knowle's choir, but
with such freedom in treatment as would show no mere slavish
imitation of the earlier model. He wrote on the matter, invit-
ing criticism, saying : " I should wish to mark by a few minor
alterations, such as the sections of the mouldings, the designs
of the window traceries, and the character of the sculpture, the
fact that this new^ nave is really a work of the nineteenth century,
not of the fourteenth." This was an opportunity for the critics,
of which they were by no means backward to avail themselves.
A writer in the Saturday Review — undoubtedly an architect
of repute — pointed out that though the nineteenth century
architecture lacked any specific character, it was nevertheless a
mistake to go back to the fourteenth century. The same
w'riter took objection to the idea of western towers, on the
ground that they would be out of proportion to the rest of the
building. Mr. Street admitted that towers were not part of the
design of the fourteenth century architect, but claimed that the
gain in appearance to the exterior would compensate for this
departure from the original plan. This question of the towers
is mentioned here for one reason only — viz., that the decision to
build the two western towers led to the destruction of the piece
of work at the south-west end that was attributed to Abbot
Knowle. Canon Norris has described it as a "fragment of
the Prior's Lodging with a door opening unto the north
cloister alley below, and above, a small oratory with an Early
English window over the door." The north wall of this oratory
was of Norman masonry, and ver\- thick. This ancient wall

40 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

had been cut away, and built into it there was some four-
teenth century work in exact ahgnment with the south wall
of Knowle's church, and correspondmg in design. It was,
in fact, a returned and re-entermg angle of a triforium passage,
with portions of a vaulting shaft and window jamb, the very
counterpart of the south-east corner of the south aisle adjoining
the Berkeley Chapel.

The existing Nave then was begun as Abbot Newland had
already begun it — one bay longer than the original nave of
Fitzharding's church, and of the same width as the fourteenth
century choir.

It is 1 20 feet long and 69 feet wide, including the aisles, and is
60 feet in height — />., about 2 feet higher than the choir. The
main piers are of Corsham stone, with small shafts of blue lias,
which gives some slight relief to the eye. From the bases to
the capitals the columns measure 25 feet. There is great
variety in the designs for the capitals, and a feature is borrowed
from the choir — viz., that some of the mouldings of the piers
are carried uj) and form a portion of the archivolt.

The building is vaulted throughout its length of 300 feet,
but the vaulting of the nave is less interesting in character
than the work in the choir and transepts.

In the aisles are shallow recesses, which recall very faintly
the dignified stellate work of Abbot Knowle. They seem to
have no raison d'etre here at all. One certainly has a marble
effigy of Dean Elliott, who is said to have been responsible for
the insertion of the recesses, but the thing is (juite meaningless,
and the effect of the iron railing round the effigy when used as
a hatstand is ludicrous in the extreme, and the white marble is
an eyesore. The gas brackets on the walls also break up the
wall space in an irritating way.

The nave is best seen from the floor space between the two
western towers, and preferably from the north side. The view
from the eastern end of the church is distinctly less striking,
the western end being comparatively dark, more especially in
the afternoon.

The stone benching round the nave is of a very uncomfort-
able height, and seems to have been made of the same height
as that in the south choir aisle, beneath which the original
floor has been lowered some 8 or 9 inches.

In the aisles it will be noticed how^ very much less ornate

THE INTERIOR.

41

is the so-called "carpentry work in stone" originated by
Abbot Knowle. There are no ball-flowers and no carved

S. B. Bolas &^ Co., Photo.]

THE NAVE AND NORTH AISLE.

heads to break up the straight lines of the transoms. By
standing about half-way down the south aisle one can note easily
the differences here mentioned.

42 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Two brasses are placed on the walls of the north aisle as
memorials of A. Palmer, Esq., a County Court judge for many
years, and to members of his family. These brasses have
veiy heavy canopies — all of brass, and, being placed rather too
high, may serve as warnings of what a memorial should not
be. The treatment of the material on a larger scale might
do for stone work, but is quite wrong for brass.

The south-west or Colston Tower forms a baptistery, and
the cost of the decoration was defrayed by the family of the
Right Rev. J. H. Monk, formerly the first bishop of the
united dioceses of Gloucester and Bristol. The pavement
is composed of Pennant and Portland stone, together with
tiles (the latter a feature which might have been omitted with
advantage), and the cast-iron grating under which are the
pipes of the heating apparatus. The font is not of much
interest.

The paving of the nave is very sombre, and is, for the most
part, concealed by matting. The floor space of the aisles is
divided by streaks of red and blue tiles from pier to pier, and
from the piers to the wall into rectangles, which are paved with
grey and buff stone. In the centre of the nave there is a
stone paving with square crosses of tiles at intervals, and a
broad band of red and blue tiles at the sides.

In the south aisle of the nave, the second window from
the transept contains what is called a nuptial window, designed
by Mr. Street as one of a series to be executed by Hardman.
It was given by Mr. W. E. George, whose arms, with those
of Otway, the arms of Bishop EUicott, impaled with those
of the City, will be found in the window. The four
lower lights represent (i) Melchizedek offering bread and
wine, (2) Jacob meeting Rachel, (3) Isaac meeting Rebekah,
(4) Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph. Above these are
(i) The Marriage at Cana, (2) the Virgins going forth to meet
the Bridegroom, (3) the Raising of Jairus' daughter, (4) "Suffer
little children to come unto Me."

In the fifth window — also by Hardman — we have m the
lower half: (i) Samson praying for death, (2) Hannah [)raying
before the Tabernacle, (3) Samuel at prayer, (4) David i)raying
for forgiveness. Above are the following subjects: (i) My
House is the Home of Prayer, (2) the Ten Lepers, (3) the
two men possessed by evil spirits, (4) the Nobleman from

THE INTERIOR

43

Capernaum entreating Christ to visit his son. The upper half
of the window is, as the inscription sets forth, "the gift of Dr.
Nathaniel Rogers, to the honour of (iod in love for His
House." The lower half is in memory of Canon Moseley,
subscribed for by his many friends in 1873.

The idea intended to be conveyed by this series of windows
when complete is the efficacy of prayer.

^S'. B. Bolas &- Co., Photo.\

SOUTH AISLE ( )K .NA\"K,

In the south window of the south-west tower — the Colston
Tower — in the baptistery, are the four doctors of the church —
St. Jerome, St. Athanasius, St. Chrysostom, and St. Ambro.se,
who are represented m their several niches as engaged in
writing. In the tracery above are the emblems of the Persons
of the Trinity. It may be instanced as a curious fact that

44 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

in 1876, in deference to popular clamour, the statues of
St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Gregory,
carved by Redfern for the north porch, were not erected in the
places designed for them, while a few years later the four
doctors of the church should be placed in this window without
opposition.

The west window of the north-west tower — the Butler Tower
— contams the four Evangelists, each engaged on his Gospel.
In the tracery above is our Lord in Majesty, surrounded by
angels.

This window is in memory of Mr. Charles Hill. Close to
this is the north window, a memorial to Mr. Peter Maze. It
contains the four greater prophets, and below, the Seraph
touching Isaiah's lips with the burning coal, Jeremiah
breaking the potter's vessel, Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones,
and Daniel in the den of lions.

The Rose window in the west end is intended to represent
the Praise of the Lamb. Our Lord is represented in the centre
enthroned in majesty with all the host of Heaven in adoration
surrounding Him. In the outer circle of the rose we have the
praises of the dwellers on earth — e.g., musicians, kings, shep-
herds, merchants, sailors, fishermen, soldiers, beggars, painters,
and composers. This window — as are all in the na,ve — is by
Hardman, and was inserted in memory of Thomas Daniel and
his wife, by their children. When the nave has all its windows
glazed with coloured glass it will be extremely sombre. Even
now, with the plain glass windows, it is not too well lighted.

This west end is far too heavy in treatment, and is a painful
contrast to the airy grace of the eastern part.

The lectern in use in the Cathedral is a brass one, of that
large class of so-called art-work, produced by art-firms, poor in
design but of the highest possible finish, and enriched with
pieces of coloured glass. In 1800 the original lectern — an
eagle lectern of good honest work given to the Cathedral in
1683 — was sold by Dean Layard, with the authority of the
chapter, for ^27, a sum less than its present price as mere
metal. It eventually became the property of a Mr. Ady, and
this gentleman, who probably appreciated its merits more than
the Dean and Chapter, gave it to the church of St. Mary le
Vort for ever, on condition that it remamed within the chancel.
As it has been placed outside the chancel for some considerable

THE INTERIOR. 45

time, and the conditions of its donor thus broken, it would be a
graceful act if the lectern were conveyed to the Cathedral in
exchange for the one that is there, which is said to have cost
;^i5o. The act would be the more graceful, as other Deans
have tried to repurchase — but in vain — property thus ruth-
lessly alienated by a predecessor, acting in conjunction with an
equally unenlightened Chapter at a chapter-meeting held on
December ist, iSoo.

The transepts. — The total length of the two transepts is
117 feet, with a width of 30 feet. The remodelling of this
part of the building was no doubt part of Knowle's plan, but
it was not finally carried out until more than a century after his
death.

Of the original Norman work there are remains in the north
wall of the north transept below the window which was inserted
in Early English times, and the strengthening buttresses in the
exterior which (where they have not been rebuilt and doubled)
have been recently recased. The south wall in the south
transept is also Norman work, and the transept thus from
north to south retains its original length.

The vaulting of the north transept was begun in all proba-
biHty by Abbot Elyot, and the reference in the monastic
record that in 1491 the choir service was held in the Elder
Lady Chapel may give the date of the commencement of the
work. That it was not finished by Abbot Somerset's time may
be inferred from the doorway (since removed) which he made
in the west bay of the Elder Lady Chapel. It is, however,
possible to conjecture that this door was necessary owing to
the nave not being then in a fit condition for services to be
held.

Each bay is complete in itself, and the design in both is the
same, while in the south transept there is but design for the
two bays. All is Perpendicular work of varying date, ranging
from the regime of Abbot Hunt, 1473, to that of Abbot
Elyot.

In monastic times there seems to have been a large statue
of the Virgin Mary on the pier to the left of the entrance into
the north choir aisle, as in Abbot Newland's Roll three abbots
are said to have been buried near the place. There is a much
restored stoup, or rather a modern approximation of what the
designer thought a stoup might be, with a memorial tablet

46

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

inserted in the wall space. At the foot of the tower pier to the
right of the aisle a font used to stand.

In the north wall of this north transept is a modern window,
placed here as a memorial to Edward Colston, the famous

THE NORTH TRANSEl'T IN 1817.

j^(From Storer's Cathedrals of Great Britain, \o\. i. )

Bristol philanthropist, by the Dolphin Society. The general
plan of the sul)jects is to set forth the various works of
l)hilanthropy. At the bottom of the window is the memorial
inscription, and above it various coats of arms — viz., those of
Colston, the Society of Merchant Venturers, the Dolphin
Society, the Cathedral, iht- City, and Christ's Hospital. In

I

THE INTERIOR. 47

the next tier are six scenes from the parable of the Good
Samaritan, the text, " Go and do thou Hkewise," which was the
Colston motto, being worked in below. Above these are the
Sermon on the Mount, the hearing of the word, Christ blessing
little children, the teaching of as well as the caring for and
loving of children. Above these, again, are six large figures —
The Centurion, St. John, Joseph of Arimatha^a, St. Barnabas,
St. Paul, Cornelius, with canopies based more or less on the
examples of fourteenth century work existing in the windows of
the choir. In the large space above the figures is Christ
enthroned, surrounded by angels, and the symbols of the four
Evangelists. Below is the Holy Spirit descending as a Dove,
and below again are represented the Six Acts of Mercy : feeding
the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, housing the stranger,
clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and those in prison.
Edward Colston, who is thus worthily commemorated, was
born in 1636 and died in 1731. The glass in this window is
by James Pow'ell & Sons, London.

The west window contains armorial bearings of various
dates, but some of the lights seem to have been wrongly put
in at some time, and this makes any attempt at deciphering
futile.

The window in the north wall was originally of Early English
work, and so, too, is the archway, lately strengthened by the
insertion of an additional member by Mr. Pearson, which
gives access to the Early English or Elder Lady Chapel. The
arch of the north aisle of the choir is later in date, having in
all probability been, together with the vaulting, the work of
Abbot Newland.

The lierne vaulting is very rich, and the bosses represent the
various emblems and mstruments of the Passion and the
emblem of the Holy Trinity.

Li the north transept is a memorial (1886) to Mr. F. J.
Fargus, a writer, better known as Hugh Conway, who died in
1885. Near it is a portrait of Mary Carpenter, who devoted
her energies to reformatories and industrial schools. Both of
these tablets are by Havard Thomas of Bristol.

On the same wall is a tablet in memory of Catharine
Winkworth, the authoress of Lyra Gcrmanica.

None of the later tablets call for any commendation as to
design or execution.

48 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

The south transept, as mentioned above, was built
up on the original Norman walls. Abbot Knowle's successor,
Snow, seems to have finished the last bay of the south aisle,
and to have built the arch which leads into it from this
transept. It is a curiously contrived piece of work, and
almost looks as though there had been a change of plan or of
builders.

Abbot Hunt, 1473-1481, is known to have made some
progress with the buildings, and John Ashfield, the magister
novi operis, was busily engaged from 1472 to 1491, in all
probability on part of this southern transept. It will be noted
that the fifteenth century builders made use of the two Norman
corbels to support their vaulting shafts.

At the south side of this transept is the staircase now leading
up to the room called the Consistory Court. This was
formerly the staircase by which access to the church was given
from the dormitory by the passage built over the low vestibule
of the chapter-house.

At the foot of this staircase, in the wall, is an aumbry, and at
the top, on the right-hand side of the door, which is dated in
nails 1667, is a stoup.

The masonry, behind which is the staircase, has been carried
up in modern times to one uniform level, and now conceals the
door at the head of the staircase.

In the left hand, or the south-east corner, of this space, ap-
proached by a small extra flight of steps, is a door giving access
to a turret stair. This may have been made to give communica-
tion with a chamber above the original apsidal chapel which,
in all probability, existed here in Norman times, for from the
staircase there is a passage, now blocked up, which runs a few
feet to the north, and once gave entrance to the small chamber,
of which the round-headed window still remains. The stair-
case would seem to have become of no use after the construc-
tion of the Newton Chapel and the later staircase, which runs
from east to west along the south wall of the transept.

It would be an excellent plan to convert part of the present
Consistory Court, which is never used, into a robing room for
the vergers and other officials, and the other part into a per-
manent museum of relics of the older buildings. Old tiles
(which were cast out once as rubbish) might be recovered from
their present possessors, old engravings could be hung there

THE INTERIOR. 49

for reference, and, in fact, anything referring to the past could
be displayed. The old sculpture found under the Chapter-
house floor might well be placed in a public rather than in a
private room, and the mutilated fragments of the Tudor choir-
screen might be there protected from further damage.

The walls of the south transept are profusely covered with
memorial tablets, for the existence of which in any building
other than a parish church it is difficult to find any satisfactory
excuses. There is one to the verger William Phillips, who
bravely withstood the raging mob in the 1831 riots, and
practically saved the building from internal ill-treatment, but
he was powerless to save the library and the cathedral
records. Another, of some artistic interest, is to the children
of Mr. R. Walwyn.

There is on the west wall a good bust of W. MuUer, and in
the floor of the transept at the edge of the step a very pleasing
brass, kept in good order. It is a splendid protest against the
more recent mural brasses in the Cathedral.

The inscription by Southey on the Butler monument is well
worth reading (B in plan) ; Southey wrote : " Others had
established the historical and prophetical grounds of the
Christian religion, and the sure testimony of its truth, which is
found in its perfect adaptation to the heart of man. It was
reserved for him to develop its analogy to the constitution and
course of nature ; and laying his strong foundations in the
depth of that great argument, there to construct another and
irrefragable proof, thus rendering philosophy the handmaid of
faith, and finding in outward and visible things the type and
evidence of those within the veil."

Those in authority at that date tried to improve on Southey's
English by substituting the words ' si/bserznent to ' for the
* handmaid of,' but they might well have let it alone. Below
this is Butler's own quotation from Origen : " He who believes
the Scriptures to have proceeded from Him who is the Author
of Nature, may well expect to find the same sort of difficulties
in it as are found in the Constitution of Nature."

The south transept has a memorial window to Mr. T. O.
Tyndall, also by Bell of Bristol. It contains in the head our
Lord in glory with the multitude of the Redeemed. Below in
six lights are depicted the Nativity, our Lord with a lily and a
young child, the Last Supper, the Journey to Calvary, the

E

50 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Burial, and the Angel announcing the Resurrection to the
Women at the Sepulchre. The arms of Mr. Tyndall are to be
found in some of the smaller spaces in the tracery.

In the west window are still to be seen traces of fifteenth
century glass, chiefly heraldic roses.

The windows, as, in fact, most of those in the eastern half
of the building, are restorations, more or less on the lines of
the previous work.

The central tower, which was built by Fitzharding, seems
about a century after Abbot Knowle's death to have required
rebuilding. Abbot Newbury obtained a lease of Dundry
Quarry from the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1466, and with
stone from this source work was being done during the years
between 1466 and 147 1. Newbury's abbacy, though inter-
rupted for five years, was a long one, lasting from 1428 to 1473.^

While the upper part of the tower was being rebuilt, it seems
as though the remodelling of the tower piers had been taken
in hand so as to bring it into line with Abbot Knowle's work
in the eastern limb of the church, but the conjectured meaning
of the word ruinosa, suggested on p. 38, may be the key to
the puzzle.

The space under the tower is not a perfect square, neither
is it a perfect oblong. By cleverly paring or reducing the
piers, they have been made to seem right whichever way they
are viewed, but in a plan on a large scale, their variation from
a normal position will be seen.

THE CHOIR.

This part of the building, after many vicissitudes, may now
be said to have returned as nearly to its original plan as is
possible. The main part of its fabric dates back to the time
of Abbot Knowle (1306- 133 2), and the work is an excellent
specimen of the Decorated style of architecture, and of work
the like of which is not found elsewhere.

The choir proper now consists of four bays — i.e., from the
piers which support the east wall of the tower to the new
reredos, which occupies a place between the fourth pair of

■^ Britton, followed by Mr. Street, is probably right in giving the above
date, and the use of the Dundry stone confirms his view, though Mr.
Godwin ascribes the work to Abbot Newland.

THE INTERIOR. 5 I

piers from the tower. From William Wyrcestre'.s measure-
ments we learn that the length of the choir from the reredos of
the high altar to the end of the choir was 29 yards ; and that
the breadth, including the aisles, was 24 yards. This latter
measurement is not quite exact (the width is 23 yards), as his
system of measuring was at fault, but the first part of his
statement bears out the remarks of the late Prof. Freeman
as to the original position of the high altar. He pointed out
that the last pier in the choir arcade on either side supports a
much more ])rominent vaulting arch than any of the others,
being more than a mere rib, and rather marking a division
between two portions of the church ; and further, that the orna-
ments in vaulting of this arch were much more elaborate than
those in the two bays of the Lady Chapel beyond, and those
over the processional path. It will be noted that the
lierne vaulting in the roof of the choir has its central quad-
rangular spaces foliated and cusped, and that this is not the
case eastwards of the present high altar.

William Wyrcestre's measurements of 1 3 yards for the Lady
Chapel, 5 yards for the processional path, and the length of
the choir from the reredos of the high altar, 29 yards, give a
total of 47 yards, or 141 feet. This would warrant the inference
that the screen in monastic times stood across the eastern arch
of the tower, in the same spot where the low stone screen
now stands, and that the rood screen proper was placed across
the western arch of the tower.

If, however, we take his measurement, in which he says :
latitiido navis chori cum duabus alls continet 50 gressus, and
the length he gives of 64 gressus, and check the latter by the
ascertained width of the choir and its aisles, which is 69, we
get for length of the choir 88 feet 4 inches, and this tallies
with the measurement given above.

It is possible that in his time the choir had been moved
shghtly to the east so as to facilitate the work in the transepts,
and the long projected works in the nave, and the elaboration
of the eastern Lady Chapel by Abbot Hunt gives some colour
to this view.

No doubt the Norman choir extended further west, and
occupied two bays of the nave, and it was in front of this
rood screen in the nave that the founder. Abbot Knowle, and
his successor. Abbot Snow, were buried.

52 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

The piers of the choir carry triple shafts which support the
vaulting of the choir, and others for the aisles, which are here of
the same height as the choir. Capitals of great delicacy and
beauty, modelled from real foliage, serve to break the line of
the mouldings and accentuate the springing of the vault.
Graceful though the span of the roof is admitted to be, the
lines of the arcade of the choir are finer, and the effect of the
contrast of their soffit mouldings carried up and round without
a break is excellent.

Before the present reredos was erected there was a block of
masonry, of comparatively recent date, but presumably on the
site of a previous similar piece of work.

The choir was separated from its aisles by a stone screen,
which is indicated in Britton's plan of 1830 between the old
screen of Edward VI. and the north wall of the Lady Chapel,
broken only by a flight of stairs to the pulpit which stood
between the present site of Bishop Bush's tomb and the north-
east corner of the new reredos. The space between the eastern-
most pier in the south aisle of the choir and the Lady Chapel
was, as now, occupied by the Tudor work, which is of consider-
able interest.

Across the aisles were screens of woodwork similar to the
older part preserved in the door at the east end of the south
choir aisle. These screens are now in Alveston Church.

On the wall of the screen on the north side of the choir was
a massive monument, of the same style as the Codrington tomb
to the memory of Sir Charles Vaughan, 1630. This has been
re-erected in the lay-clerks' vestry.

The iron screen-work that separates the choir from its aisles
is uninteresting, and too small in scale.

As late as 1532 Thomas, Lord of Berkeley, willed 100
marks towards the building of the high altar. This bequest
seems to indicate some rebuilding of the said altar, or the
building of a new altar may have been part of Elyot's grand
schemes.

The reredos, wliich was erected in 1899 as a memorial to
Bishop Ellicott, who was for thirty-five years Bishop of
Gloucester and Bristol, with the proposed and partly begun
screen, makes up the total of what Mr. Pearson designed for
the Dean and Chapter.

The present reredos is designed so as not to clash too much

THE INTERIOR. 53

with the panelled work in the last hay of the south choir aisle,
and is believed to stand exactly on the site of Abbot Knowle's
reredos. The carving in it is very graceful and delicate, but on
far too small a scale to be visible except at very close quarters.
There is too much squareness and stiffness about its outline,
the effect of which is heightened by the excessive slenderness of
the pinnacles in the central portion, in fact, the pinnacles generally
do not show at any distance from the work. The chief part of
the tabernacle work is corbelled out, and gives it a top-heavy
effect. In colour this reredos is quite suitable to its surround-
ings, but it is too solid and too high for its position, and echpses
much of the beauty of the eastern window in the Lady Chapel.
A light reredos in the shape of a triangle rather than that of a
solid rectangle would have been more in keeping with the
Decorated choir.

The original stalls of Abbot Elyot had so far decayed that
Bishop Bush, the first Bishop of the diocese, in providing an
episcopal throne, was obliged to supply new stalls as well.
They suffered considerably when removed by Dean Elliott in
the course of the drastic changes he made in i860, and much
new indifferent carved work was inserted. This in its turn
has been banished out of the building during Mr. Pearson's
restoration of the choir generally. In this same time of change
the old black and white marble pavement, cold certainly, but
at least dignified and reserved, had to give way to a new mosaic
pavement, glistening with the utmost possible polish, and giving
the most distracting reflections.

In the step of the sanctuary, where one might hope for a restful
method of treatment, is one of those bizarre creations that
dazzle always, but which can never please. If it was considered
absolutely necessary to lay down marble here, it would have
been better to select some of the fine local marbles, which
would have been far more subdued in tone, easier and less
costly to get, and in every way as durable as the existing
highly-polished pavement, which is positively as unsafe to walk
upon as it is out of keeping with Abbot Knowle's work.

Most of the carved work in the stalls is far too small in
scale, and it is very mechanical in execution, much of it
being merely thin carved fretwork. Some of the misericordes
contain carvings — grotesque and fanciful as they usually are.
One represents two foxes addressing a flock of geese from one

54 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

pulpit, another represents a duel or tournament between a
woman mounted on a turkey and a man mounted on a sow,
both being armed with brooms. There is a vigour about these
rude carvings which the nineteenth century carvers cannot
express in their work. Some eight or nine are undoubtedly
intended to illustrate incidents in the laughable story of
Reynard the Fox, and these are now arranged in their proper
sequence. In the reconstruction and rearranging of the stalls
in the 1895 "^^ork, the number was reduced, and some of the
more objectionable misericordes found their way to the museum
at South Kensington.

During the restoration a trench was dug in the centre of the
choir, due east and west, from the second to the fourth bay
from the screen. A foundation was discovered which was con-
sidered to be that of the east wall of the earlier building. A
further foundation was discovered "some twelve paces further
east." It is unfortunate that exact measurements were not
taken, together with a photograph of the masonry, which is
now permanently concealed under the marble pavement.

The restorations have had one good effect. A series of tall
branching gas-standards of brass, poor in design and most
mechanical in workmanship, supported on glaring white stone
pillars, elaborately carved, have been removed, and neat electric
pendants now give the light that is needed during service.
The stone screen erected in i860 has also been removed.

Henry VIII. 's screen, as shown in Britton's plan, was a
solid stone erection about 30 feet in depth, with a staircase at
each end to give access to the gallery. l"he west front of this
screen was enriched with carvings and sculptures, which were
demolished with other tabernacle work in 156 1-2 in obedience
to instructions from Queen Elizabeth, quoted on p. 19.
Instead of having " some Scriptures written in the places,"
pictorial representations of the minor prophets were placed
there, and they, though covered with plaster during the Civil
Wars and presumably forgotten, were restored and on view from
1 804- 1 860, the date of the destruction of the screen, by Dean
Elliott. The central doorway is shown (from Lysons) on
the opposite page, and details are shown, by permission of the
Clifton Antiquarian Club, on pp. 26 and 84.

This screen was erected between 1542 and 1547, as Prince
Edward's arms clearly show, and after the destruction of the

THE INTERIOR.

55

rood-loft in 1548, served as the organ loft, on wliich the organ,
mentioned in Britton as having been bought in 1629, did
duty till a larger instrument was purchased in 1685. Some
additional masonry was added to this screen in 1629, as is
indicated by the corbel, which is still preserved in the lay
clerks' vestry.

This fine piece of Tudor work was turned out of the choir in

DOORWAY IK THE CHOIR SCREEN (now destroyed).
(See also pp. 26 and 84 for details.)

i860 and thrown in the graveyard. Portions of it have been
rescued and stored in the cloisters, and it is intended to build
up the fragments at the back of the proposed sedilia in the
last bay of the choir. Truly an ignominious end for good,
honest, and beautiful work.

The organ. — The first mention of an organ is to be found
in Abbot Newland's Roll, in which a later writer added the
detail as to his place of burial, stating that he is " beried in

56 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

the south side off our Lady Chapell in the arch there by the
dore going into the loft going to the organs."

Where this " organ " was really placed is a doubtful point.
It was portable and small, but it seems unusual to have a
staircase near the Lady Chapel giving access to an organ which
must have been near the singers under the tower.

Of this portable organ there is no more to be said except
that it was probably found inadequate for the Cathedral
service established by Henry VIH. About the year 1629 an
organ from the Cathedral was sold for ;^3o to the Church of
St. Stephen's, but nothing is known as to its immediate successor.
The present organ was in part erected on the stone screen
that up to i860 stood across the choir two bays to the east of
the tower, by Renatus Harris, in the period 1681-1685. It
consisted of three manuals — viz., a swell of short compass fiddle
G to D, a great organ with a compass of an additional lower
octave, a choir of the same compass, but with no pipes of its
own, everything being borrowed from the Great. There were
no pedals, and the modern composition pedals and couplers
were unknown. The system of tuning, too, was that known as
the unequal temperament. About a century later a local firm,
Messrs. Brice & Seede, added a separate and a real choir
organ. In 1821 the organ was repaired, new bellows and
feeders being put in, and pedals were added, which, however,
had no pipes of their own, but merely acted on the keys of
the manual. The work done in 1821 was not first-rate, for by
1836 fresh bellows were again required, but till 1842 nothing
was done beyond the addition of a coupler (Swell to Great)
and the open diapason pedal stop.

The organ was in a deplorable condition, and after its
removal from the screen in i860 was reconstructed by Messrs.
Vowles, according to the specification of Mr. Corfe, the
organist.

Dean Elliott, who was certainly most arbitrary, ordered the
tone to be subdued, and it was tuned to please the organist on
the unequal temperament. Much of the old work was retained,
but with seven new stops much of necessity was new, and the
case was enlarged in width to the extent of 4 feet. The old
GG compass was retained, but extended from D to G — the
swell, however, being still of short compass. In 1868 or 1869
the organ was tuned on the equal temperament, and in 1882

THE INTERIOR.

57

pneumatic action was in part introduced, and the pedals were
somewhat altered and reconstructed.
The specification is here given : —

GREAT

ORGAN.

Open diapason i. .

8 ft.

Twelfth

3 ft.

,, ,, "■

8 ft.

Fifteenth

2 ft.

Clarabella .

8 ft.

Sesquialtera .

4 ranks

Stopped diapason .

8 ft.

Mixture

2 ranks

Principal I. .

4 ft.

Trumpet

8 ft.

,, II. .

4 ft.

Clarion

4 ft.

SWELL

ORGAN.

Hautbo}-

8 ft.

Double diapason .

i6 ft.

Trumpet

8 ft.

Open diapason

8 ft.

Cornopean .

8fi.

Harmonic flute

4 ft.

Fifteenth

2 ft.

Twelfth

3 ft.

Principal

4 ft.

Mixture

2 ranks

St. diapason .

8 ft.

CHOIR

ORGAN.

Stopped diapason, bass.

8 ft.

Clarinet

Sft.

,, ,, treble

8 ft.

Principal

4 ft.

Dulciana

8 ft.

Flute .

4 ft.

\'iol di gamba

Sft.

Piccolo .

2 ft.

PEDAL

ORGAN.

Bourdon, i6 ft.

Open diapason, l6 ft. Principal

Sft.

COUPLERS.

Swell to great.

,, ,, octaves.

Swell to choir.
Swell to pedals.

Great to pedals.
Choir to pedals.
Octave coupler for pedals.
8 composition pedals.

It is the custom to complain that this is the only organ in
the west of England of such compass, and such primitive
mechanism. This may be so, but the tone of the organ is, for
the most part, wonderfully fine, and it is to be hoped that in
any scheme of reconstruction it may be stipulated that the old
work, especially the diapason work, is to be retained. Besides

58 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

this, the case is a noble and dignified piece of work, and should
be zealously preserved.

The equal height of the choir and its aisles no doubt has
much to do with the acoustic effect of the organ, and probably
no better position for the organ could be found, though in
these days of electricity it could be easily divided and disposed
equally on either side of the choir. It is to be hoped, how-
ever, that the Cathedral will not be mutilated with steel girders
to carry the organ, after the method adopted at Bath Abbey.

THE CHOIR AISLES AND LADY CHAPELS.

In both the aisles of the choir there is curious and unusual vault-
ing, shown on page 6i, designed by Abbot Knowle. Having
decided on side-aisles of the same height as the body of his
building, the architect was bound to receive the lateral thrust
exerted by his heavy central vaulting (the span of the choir
bemg 34 feet) either by fiying buttresses or by a transom. As
a matter of fact these transoms or bridges actually do the
work of flying buttresses, as will be seen from the section
(page 59), and much more efificiently and economically. These
transoms have done their work faithfully and well for nearly
six hundred years, and they are still there for us to study
and admire. Had the architect given us flying buttresses
instead, they would have required frequent renewal, and the
idea only and not the workmanship would have remained for
us to-day.

The transoms, features which were repeated in the windows
of the aisles of the choir, and in a much heavier form in the
wmdows of the nave, are additionally strengthened by the
graceful arches below which spring from capitals almost similar
to those on the choir side of the piers. From the centre of
each transom rises a cluster of groining ribs. It has been
customary to speak rather disparagingly of this clever piece
of work of Abbot Knowle, and to term it carpentry work in
stone. It may be so, but the student of to-day may thank
the fourteenth century Abbot for a most instructive lesson.

The transoms have crowned heads at either end and in
the centre, and they, unlike the transoms in the aisles of the
nave, are ornamented with little flowers.

THE INTKRIUR.

59

Owing to the height of these aisles (50 feet) the wuidows
are also higher than is commonly the case, and the amount
of light thus admitted amply compensates for the absence
of a clerestory. The whole eastern half of the interior is so
wonderfully open, cheerful, and spacious, that one feels nothing
but regret that Abl)ot Knowle died when his work was but
half finished.

SECTION OF ']"HE EAST END. (Fiom Britton's Calhedrah )

Beneath the windows, which are Decorated m character, is
a string-course, with ball-flower ornament, a feature which is
found all round this eastern part.

In the south aisle the vaulting was intended to be the
same as in the north aisle, having l)een planned by the same

60 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

architect, hut a difference in the westernmost hay shows it
was superintended by a different mind. In all probability it
was Knowle's successor Abbot Snow who, from 1332-1341,
went on with his predecessor's work, adding that ])art called
the Newton Chapel. It is something after the manner of a
colourable imitation, but it is more or less clumsy work, as will
appear from an inspection of the details of the mouldings.

From the westernmost bay of this south aisle access is given to
the Newton Chapel, so called from the distinguished members
of that family whose tombs are here to be seen. The style
of the work is late Decorated,^ anticipatively Perpendicular, and
seems to have been finished by one of Abbot Knowle's im-
mediate successors, Abbots Snow or Ashe, and altered again
on the south and west sides when the south transept was re-
modelled by Abbot Newland in 1 481-15 15. In this chapel
the west side seems as though it had at one time opened into
the transept with a somewhat wider opening than that which
was walled up to make a place for the memorial tablets of
Bishop Butler and Bishop Gray.

The student will note the good work in the tracery
of the east window and the absence of any ball-flower orna-
ment.

On the east side is a tomb of gray marble with an over-
hanging canopy simple in design, but inclining forward in a
dangerous manner. The tomb is probably of the beginning
of the sixteenth century. The person to whom it is ascribed
died, as William Wyrcestre- tells us, on December 13, 1444,
but there are two good reasons for thinking the common
ascription is wrong. There are official memoranda showing
that Sir Richard Newton, whose father, John Cradock, had
adopted the name of Newton, was alive and acting as Chief
Justice in the Common Pleas from 1439 to the time his
successor was appointed in 1449. There is also good evidence
for believing that Sir Richard was buried at Yatton in Somerset-
shire, where there is a fifteenth century tomb with an effigy
of a judge upon it. A grandson of Sir Richard Newton died
in or about 1500, and the tomb may have been a memorial

^ There is anlicipatively Perpendicular work in the south transept at
Gloucester quite as early as the date of Abbot Snow.

" Dominus Ricardus Newton Craddok, miles Justiciarius de communi
banco, obiit A. c. 1444, die S. Lucise, 13 die Decembris.

I

THE INTERIOR.

6l

to him. William W'vrcestre, writing in 14S0 or so, would have
been sure to make a further reference to any tomb which had
been lately erected. The legend on the tomb states that it

S. B. Bo/as cH Co., Plioto.\

SOUTH AISLK OF CIIOIK.

was defaced in the time of the Civil Wars, and repaired by
Mrs. Archer, sister to the late Sir Michael Newton of Barr's
Court, 1748.

62

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

On the south wall there are several other Newton monuments

one to Sir Henry Newton, who died in 1599, Catharine his

wife (a daughter of Sir Thomas Paston of Norfolk), and their
six children.

The other Newton tomb is one in stone to the memory of
Sir John Newton. It is supported by two
very ugly twisted pillars. Ihe knight is
represented in armour with a truncheon in
his hand. As the tablet says, "he was a
man of great courage, and the greatest
loyalty to his prince : an honour to his
country." He died without issue m 1661.

In the south wall is a pi.scina of Decorated
work.

In the recess in the west wall is the tablet
by Bailey to Bishop Gray, erected by all
classes in Bristol, in testimony of their
esteem and affection and admiration of
his firmness and fortitude. He was bishop
during a very critical period in the history
of Bristol — viz., 1827-1834.

To the left of this recess is a monument to
Elizabeth Stanhope by Westmacott.

The whole of this Newton Chapel has
the appearance of being an afterthought.
Its eastern wall is joined to the wall of the
aisle with a vertical joint, and the string-
course in the interior shows by the closeness
of the last two ball-flowers that there was
some change of plan. This again is borne
out by the passage under the window in
the aisle coming to a built-up, not a blocked
-up end in this place.

It may have been built up over and
around a smaller Norman or perhaps an
" " Early English chapel on the same site, as

there are traces of a chamber in the w^all, now blocked up
altogether, A round-headed window is still to be seen in the
east wall of the south transept, and the staircase in the south-
jYo/e. — The tiles shown above are drawn from perfect specimens in the
possession of Mr. R. Hall Warren.

THE INTERIOR. 6;^

cast corner of the same transept has a passage now l)locked u[)
that would have given means of access to this part.

On the right, after passing out of the Newton Chapel is one
of Abbot Knowle's recesses. In this one the foliage consists
of oak-leaves with acorns, interspersed here and there with tiny
sprays of mistletoe, an unusual thing in a church decoration,
but not to be wondered at if one considers Knowle's love of
nature, which is exemi)lified in all his work.

The tomb (4 in the plan) is generally assigned to Thomas, Lord
Berkeley, who died in 1243. He is represented with his head
on a pillow supported by mutilated angels, his hands folded,
and his legs, which are crossed, in reference to his having been
a knight templar, resting on a dog. The figure bears the
Berkeley blazon on his left arm, and is clad in a coat of mail
with a long surcoat over it, and a haketon, a rare feature,
beneath, and poleyns or knee-caps of plate armour. This
monument is the oldest of those now to be found in the
building, as that to Robert, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1221,
and was buried in the north aisle over against the high altar,
has disappeared.

In the next recess (5 in the plan) is the tomb of Maurice, Lord
Berkeley, the second of that name, who died in 1281. The
knight, who is wearing knee-caps of plate-armour introduced in
the reign of Henry III., is clad in a long-sleeved shirt of mail
reaching to the knees, and hose of the same. His sleeveless
surcoat extends to the knees, and is held in at the waist by a
slender girdle.

In the next bay uj) one step is the entrance through an
interesting vestibule, originally a sacristy, to the Berkeley
Chapel, which is now used as a music-room for the choristers.
This entrance is a very fine specimen of Decorated work, but
its effect is utterly marred by the miscellaneous collection of
mural tablets in stone, brass, and marble which have been
affixed to the available wall space in the bay. The doorway
is planned in three partitions, the central one of which is the
actual doorway, the side parts consisting of small recesses.
These side recesses are simpler in character {vide page 64) than
the central doorway, and are separated from it and themselves
by flanked buttresses with a recessed panel on the front edge,
and crocketed at the top.

In each partition the bold finials are elaborately carved, and

64

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

represent pomegranates. Below the pomegranates is richly
wrought crocketing, in which variety of light and shade is
effectively obtained by reversing the direction of the ornament
in the central panel or partition.

The central doorway has its head enriched with three small,
separate trefoils, whereas each side panel has but one of large
size. Above the doorway are the Berkeley arms.

.i'. B. Bolas df Co., Photo. |

ENTRANCE TO THE VKSTIliULE OF THE BERKELEY CHAPEL.

The vestibule, from its internal fittings, must have been the
monastic sacristy. It contains cupboards for plate, and in the
north-east corner a long and narrow recess, in which no doubt
the abbot's crozier was safely kept. Opposite the entrance
door, on the south side, are three ogee arches with niches
between. In one of these, the third from the west, was a
hearth upon which the sacramental bread was baked. The
flue will be noted overhead. The ornamentation in the

TIIK INTKRIOK. 65

spandrels and the fmials arc curiously intcrcstmg work in
foliage.

The vaulting of the roof would seem to stamp the work as
that of Abbot Knowle. It consists of curved ribs, quite
detached, large in section, springing from small capitals. The
bosses are particularly fine, the foliage being very flowing and
free. It is difficult to realise that the mason has here done in
stone what many wood carvers would fail to do in their softer
material.^

A short distance above the corbels in the walls are dimin-
utive capitals, supporting a small moulding, which seem to melt
away into the surrounding masonry. They serve to break the
straight line of the upright shafts and prevent any suspicion of
stiffness.

The door into the Berkeley Chapel is enriched with a niche
overhead, and a label consisting of ammonites, and a moulding
below consisting of medlars.

Berkeley Chapel. — This chapel, which is entered from the
sacristy, was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and may
be the chapel to which reference was made by the Bishop of
Worcester when in 137 1 he censured the Abbot for wasting
the Abbey revenues, and ordered him to make provision for
the proper maintenance of the secular clerks of St. Mary's
Chapel.

This chapel, judging from the remains of two piscinae, had
two altars, and from traces of masonry removed when the floor
was tiled, seems to have had a screen across a portion of its
width. One of the altars was thought by some to have been
dedicated to St. Keyne, from the fact of her occupation of a
hermitage at Keynsham, and from the supposed fact that she
had turned all the local snakes, of which there were too many,
into stone. The dedication to St. Keyne may be accepted, as
she was a local saint of note, but the ammonites on the entrance
door are no doubt due to a happy thought of Abbot Knowle,
who, having noticed an ammonite partially uncovered in a piece
of stone, may have, in his love for natural forms, made a note
of it for use.

^ This kind of vaulting was imitated In' Bishop Gower under the rood-
loft of St. David's Cathedral. The same prelate adopted the idea of these
stellate recesses, which were also reproduced by Canynges in St. JNfary
RedcHffe in the south aisle of the nave.

F

66

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

In the nortli wall of the chapel is a recess, which at the
beginning of the last century was walled up, but which has now
been opened and glazed in a ver}' tentative manner, with a
commonplace iron grill. In the arched roof of the recess the

S. B. Bo/as &^ Co., Phiito.\
VAULTING IN THE VKSTIIiULE OK THE BERKELEY CHAPEL.

Berkeley arms are carved, but the crosses pattee are painted on,
and of these only traces remain here and there. Below the
table-top of the tomb are five coats of arms — viz., (i) Berkeley,
(2) de Ferrars, Earl of Derby, (3) England, (4) Roger de
Quincy, Earl of Wmchester, whose daughter Margaret was the

THE INTERIOR. 6y

first wife of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (the second of that name),
(5) Berkeley again, with a label of four points. The tomb is
now generally ascribed to Thomas, Lord Berkeley, the great-
grandson of the founder of the abbey, who died in 132 1, and
is thought to have been erected in 1309 when his wife
Joan^ died. Above the five coats of arms is a bold mould-
ing of horse-shoes of much earlier date than the rest of the
tomb.

In the eastern wall are two windows with glazing of a painful
design, far more suitable for a wood pavement than a cathedral
window, even though carried out in cathedral glass. The soffit
of the south window on the east side is decorated with ball-
flower ornament of very large size. The window to the left has
roses and quatrefoiled flowers alternately. All the bosses in the
roof and the foliage on the capitals should be carefully
studied.

There is a door in the west wall which gives access to the
staircase to what was once the sacristan's room above the
Berkeley Chapel. The room has been destroyed by the
lowering of the roof.

It has been thought by some authorities that this chapel
was erected by Abbot Snow — the successor of Knowle —
who was the builder of the last bay in the south choir
aisle.

The door into the sacristy, the sacristy itself, and the door into
the chapel seem to be Knowle's work, and quite different in
character from the work of Abbot Snow. The ogee arches, too,
in the south wall of this sacristy have a strong resemblance to
the ogee work (which is undoubtedly Knowle's) \\\ the reredos
at the east end of the Lady Chapel. If the work was executed
after Knowle's death in 1332, it must have been done according
to his designs. At the extreme east end of this south aisle
is a modern recessed tomb to members of the Grosett famil>
(1820). Perpendicular work has been ruthlessly cut away
to make room for what is better left undescribed. Above
it on the stucco which conceals the mutilated tabernacle
work are various inanities produced by the statuaries of
Bristol.

Immediately above the Berkeley Chapel is the window of

' Dugdalc states that this lady was buried here.

68 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

four lights known as the Loscombe window, glazed l)y Bell of
Bristol in 1888. Below the sacred emblems in the head of
the window are (i) The Virgin Mary; (2) St. James; (3) St.
John ; (4) St. Mary Magdalene. In the tier below are (i) The
Annunciation; (2) The Death of St. James; (3) St. John
promising the elders of Ephesus to undertake the composition
of a fourth Gospel ; (4) Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene
in the Garden.

The next window westwards — i.e., that which is over the
entrance to the Berkeley Chapel — was the gift of two donors,
the upper part being given by Mr. Killigrew Wait, and the
lower by Mr. Stuckey Lean.

There is nothing especially to be noted in this window.

The next — i.e., the third going westwards — was given by
J. A. Simmonds in 1868. The subject is the four Christian
graces, and below, the four cardinal virtues.

The fourth window is a memorial window erected by public
subscription to Mr. J. I). Corfe, who was cathedral organist
for fifty-one years. In the head of the window is the Lamb
standing on the Book with the Seven Seals, and on either side
angels with scrolls. The four upper lights contain a choir of
angels singing the song of the Redeemed, and the symbols of
the Evangelists ; while in the lower lights are illustrated the
song of Moses and the men, and Miriam with the maidens of
Israel. Some few bars of Handel's "Israel in Egypt" are
inscribed on the scrolls.

All the windows in this south aisle — except the Glem-
ham window — and in the Newton Chapel are by Bell of
Bristol.

The east window in the south aisle is a Glemham window
( 1 660-1 667), for the Glemham arms are inserted three
times : first, impaled with those of the Wentworth family ;
secondly, with those of the Bacons ; and thirdly, with those of
the Brandons,^ and the Glemham crest, a falcon volant, beaked
and legged, or.

The subject of the window is as follows. In the centre at
the top our Lord driving out the money-changers from the
Temple ; and below this, Jacob's Dream. On the left, at the

' The arms of the Bacon and Brandon families occur in the quarterings
in the other Glemham window — i.e., in the east window of the north aisle
of the choir.

THE INTERIOR.

69

top, a subject which is doubtful, and below it the sacrifice of
(iideon. In the right-hand light at the top, the Tribute-
money, and below, Melchizedek and Abraham.

These (rlemham win
dows are very crude in
colour, and far too bright.
This is partly due to the
method of glass-makmg
of the seventeenth cen-
tury, the colours being
merely fired on the
surface of the glass,
after the manner of an
enamel.

The Lady Chapel,
which, till 1895, had to
serve as a chancel, con-
sists of two bays, similar
in character and style to
those of the western por-
tion of the choir, and
lighted by five windows,
the eastern one being a
Jesse window, the east-
ernmost pair of the side
windows having four
lights and the other pair
having three lights each.
Each of the four side
windows has a transom
with rich tracery be-
low it.

The chapel now meas-
ures 42 feet in length chancel screen, south side entrance
by 32 feet in breadth,
as compared with Will-
iam Wyrcestre's measure-
ments of 39 feet by 28^- feet. This discrepancy may be
accounted for as far as the width is concerned by assuming
that he took his measurement between the two wall piers
which carry the vaulting. As to the difference of 3 feet

TO LADY CHAPEL rkOM THE SOUTH
AISLE OF CHOIR.

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

in the length it may be accounted for by the existence
of a screen across the entrance to the chapel, which is
mentioned m Abbot Newland's Roll as the place where

S. B. Bolas &= Co., Photo.

THE LADY CHAPEL.

Abbot Coke was buried — viz., " in the space before the
door entering into Our Lady's Chapel above the High
Altar." Abbot Coke was buried in 1363, so that this .screen

THE INTERIOR. 7 1

had been in existence more than one hundred years before
WiUiam Wyrcestre made his series of measurements, and as
he made this particular measurement in yards, there should be
less possibility of any error.

The chapel is divided in two parts by a step, which, if a
survival or a retention of the original step, helps to make clear
the expression over and nether arch as applied to Abbot
Newbury's and Abbot Hunt's tombs in the north wall. This
expression is found in Abbot Newland's Roll.

There was in the same document mention made of " the
choir there," in describing Abbot Hunt's place of burial, and
this, coupled with a reference (in the same Roll) to the fact
that Abbot Newland was buried " in the south side of Our Lady
Chapell, in the arch there by the dore going into the loft going
to the organs," would point to the fact that the screen may
have been wide enough to make up the difference between
the measurement of Wyrcestre and those of our own time.
Wyrcestre also tells us that the processional path or space
between the high altar and the entrance to the Lady Chapel
was 5 yards in width.

The central shaft of the triple shafting on the walls is of
Purbeck marble, and the capitals have been gilded.

The passage under the windows in this chapel has been
adorned with a parapet of quatrefoiled pierced work (part of
the i860 restoration scheme, and perhaps the least objectionable
feature of it all), and below this is a string-course with ball-flower
enrichment painted in blue, red, and gold. When the yellow
wash was removed from the walls, traces of wall paintings in
quatrefoils (subjects, angels each with a golden nimbus) were
found at either end of the north and south walls below
the string-course. They are best seen in a good diffused
light.

The reredos of this Lady Chapel in part is Abbot Knowle's,
and in part is Perpendicular work. Britton in 1830 pointed
out that the ogee arches in the sacristy bore a strong resem-
blance to the work in this reredos, and ventured to represent it
as he presumed it might have been originally, or as it might be
if appropriately restored. It is shown in Lysons with four equal
compartments, but Britton by careful measurements showed
that there were three only. In his time it was no doubt as
he described it, " much mutilated, and as shamefully defaced

/•^

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

by the tasteless operations of some house-painter." It had
been cut away to make room for an altar-piece consisting of
panelled work with Corinthian piers. In 1839 this was
removed altogether and the reredos restored.

Above the reredos and at the bottom of the east window of
this chapel, in a place where the ordinary visitor cannot see
them, are several panels with coats of arms of various bene-
factors. From the work and the fact that the rebus of Abbot
Burton (a tun with burrs rising from it) and his initials W. B.
are to be found there, the date is probably 1 530-1 536. These
panels were originally above the reredos and below the cresting,
but were removed and consigned to their present absurd
position in 1861, at the command of Dean Elliott, and against
the wishes of a competent architect. They have also
the arms of the Berkeley family, and those of Abbot Elyot,
1 5 15-1526, Burton's predecessor, and also of Abbot Hunt
i473-i48i._ _

The sedilia are also constructive restorations of the original
work. They had been sadly mutilated to make room for an
Elizabethan tomb with a canopy supported by columns in
memory of Sir John Young and his family. Some fragments
of the sedilia had been built in the space behind.

On the north wall near Abbot Newbury's tomb used to be
the Codrington monument which is now in the north choir
aisle.

In 1480 the prior and the convent granted an obit and mass
to be celebrated in memory of Abbot Hunt " in a certain new
Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary " at the east end of the
church. This statement is rather enigmatical, and it is difficult
to see to what it refers. The Lady Chapel was Knowle's work
of more than a century's standing. It is probable that Abbot
Hunt merely decorated the chapel in some way, as his arms are
to be seen behmd the cresting, which w^as mutilated by order
of Dean Elliott in i860.

In the north-east wall of the Lady Chapel (now once more
the Lady Chapel, as it was intended to be by Abbot Knowle,
who built it), is the stellated recess containing the altar-tomb of
Abbot Newbury, represented fully robed with mitre and crozier.
His head is supported by two angels, his feet rest upon a lion.
This memorial was formerly ascribed to Abbot Knowle, but in
the copy of Abbot Newland's Roll it is clearly stated that he was

I

THE INTERIOR. J I

buried before the rood altar, and that Abbot Newbury was
buried in the over-arch of Our Lady's Chapel on the north side
of the altar. These stellated recesses are a peculiarity of the
Cathedral, though there is something like them in St. Mary
Redcliffe, Bristol, and in St. i)avid's Cathedral. In fact, in the
latter building the work is thought to have been done by the
same masons who worked here.

There is infinite variety in the treatment of the detail in
these recesses, though the general lines remain practically the
same. This one containing Abbot Newbury's tomb is decorated
throughout with ball-fiower ornaments and five bold floral
finials. The effigy — of which the face looks newer than the
rest of the body — is perhaps rather small for the recess in which
it lies.

Iri the next recess to the west is the altar tomb (also with an
effigy in full canonicals) of Abbot Hunt, who died in 1473.
His crozier is broken, but the supporting angels are quite
perfect.

By some writers this tomb has been assigned to Morgan ap
Gwilliam, the last abbot, but the tomb seems to be prior to
his time, and the theory would involve the admission of a
further theory, that his effigy was placed here after his death,
which occurred some years after the dissolution of the Abbey

in 1539-

Immediately opposite to Abbot Hunt's tomb is that of
Abbot Newland, usually known as Nailheart from his rebus,
a bleeding heart with three nails. The brass above the tomb
has gone, and the stonework is new in places. There are
traces of colour in the deeper recesses of the stone carvings,
but this colour was modern, having been applied by order of
Dean Elliott, and subsequently removed by him.

Close to Newland's tomb is a modern brass plate with an
inscription, copied from that written by Nathaniel Forster,
Bishop Butler's chaplain.

The inscription runs :

74 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

H. S.

REVERENDUS ADMODUM IN CHRISTO I'ATER

JOSEPHUS BUTLER, LL.D.

HUJUSCE I'RIMO DICECESEOS
DEINDE DUNELMENSIS, EPISCOPUS.

QUALIS QUANTUSQUE VIR ERAT,

SUA LIBENTISSIME AGNOVIT ^TAS.

ET SI QUID PR/ESUI.I AUT SCRIPTORI AD FAMAM VAI.RNT

MENS AI.TISSIMA, INGENII PERSPICACIS

ET SUBACTI VIS,

ANIMUS<,)UE PIUS, SIMPLEX, CANDIDUS,

LIBERALIS

MORTUI HAUD FACILE EVANESCET MEMORIA.

OBI IT BATHONI^

i6 KAL : Jul. a.d. mdcclii.

ANNOS NATUS LXX.
JUXTA JACET.

Or in English :

" Here lies buried the Rt. Rev. Father in Christ, Joseph Butler, LL.D.,
Bishop, first of this diocese and then of Durham, His own generation
knew right well what manner of man he was ; and if a great intellect, keen-
ness of perception, self-restraint, piety, simplicity, frankness, generosity
can increase his reputation as a Bishop or as a writer, his memory, though
he is dead, will not easily fade away. He died at Bath on June the 17th,
1752, aged 70. He is buried close by."

He was buried at the foot of the Bishop's throne, which, in
his time, stood slightly to the west of the present screen at the
back of the reredos.

The fine east window is one of the kind known as Jesse
windows. The lower lights are separated by vine tendrils into
oval panels, twenty-one in all. In the lowest tier in the centre
is Jesse with David on the right and Solomon on the left hand.
To the left of the latter are the prophets Micah, Haggai,
Malachi : to the right of David are Jeremiah, Daniel and
Amos. In the next tier the central figure is the Virgin and
Child, with Hezekiah on the left and Ahaz on the right, the
four kings, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Ahaz representing
the descent of the promise. To the left of Hezekiah are the
prophets Jonah, Habakkuk, Zechariah ; and to the right of
Ahaz are Isaiah, Ezekiel and Hosea. Above these two rows

THE INTERIOR. 75

of regular panels, are three panels, containing four suljjects —
the central one giving us the Crucifixion, with our Lord in
glory in the upper part of the light. In the right hand light is
the Virgin Mary, in that on the left is St. John.

In the head of this window there are now seventeen blazons of
arms. In the quatrefoil at the top — the arms of England as
used before the time of Edward III. — viz., the three lions ; in
the two trefoils immediately below are Berkeley of Stoke
Clifford (L), Berkeley of Berkeley Castle (R). In the two
trefoils below these are Wylington (R) and De Spencer (L).
In the small quatrefoil beneath the latter is a coat unknown,
and in the corresponding quatrefoil on the other side are the
arms of De la Riviere. Below, in two trefoils, are Bradstone (L),
and Basset of Uleigh (R). To the right of the latter, in the
head of the right main compartment of the window, are the
arms of Beauchamp (of Essex), and in the corresponding
position on the other side those of Delamare. In the six
central lights of the window, which are arranged like the leaves
of a fan, are coats as follows, beginning at the bottom. On the
left Mowbray, De Bohun, De Clare; on the right (at the
bottom) Montacute, then Beauchamp and De Warrenne.

Most of the glass in this upper part is original, and is
supposed by Mr. Winston to date between 131 2-1 322, as the
arms of (iaveston, who was murdered in 1312, are not in the
window, while the arms of De Bohun, who was slain in open
rebellion in 1322, are clearly here. The glass, then, is of
Knowle's time, and being contemporary with the masonry,
affords a rich example of the harmony of form and colour
about which one hears so much, but which one so seldom sees.

It is probable that the tracery of the window may have been
designed for Abbot Knowle by the builder of the window at
Carlisle, also an Augustinian house. There is a strong resem-
blance in the two windows, both of which are excellent work.

Much of the glass in the lower half is modern work by Bell
of Bristol, 1847.

The north-east window of the choir contains four lights,
and in the upper tier there are represented: (i) St. Joseph,
(2) The Virgin and Child with the Serpent, (3) St. Mary
Magdalene, (4) St. John the Baptist. Below are the four
Evangelists. At the foot of this window are the arms of
Berkeley of Stoke Gifford (L), then of Cobham of Sterborow

je BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

repeated twice, and lastly of Berkeley, differenced with a label
of three points.

The north-west window — i.e., the window to the west of the
last mentioned— is of three lit,d-its only, and contains in the
upper tier St. Peter, St. Elizabeth, and St. Paul. Below are
heads representing Christ and the Twelve Apostles, with
St. Augustine below in the centre flanked on either side by an
abbot of the fourteenth century.

The armorial bearings are those of Havenell or Havell (L),
Gournay, and Vere, Earl of Oxford.

The south-east window contains eleven coats of arms as
follows. In the head of the window the arms of Beauchamp,
and below an unknown coat quartered with Havenell or
Havell. Immediately below those of Beauchamp are those of
Bradstone, and below are the arms of the Abbey — which are
identical with those of the See— and of Berkeley.

The figures represent (i) St. Stephen, (2) The Virgin and
Child, (3) Anna, the Prophetess, (4) St. James the Martyr.

Below these are the arms of Rodney impaling Syrmington,
and Syrmington alone.

Beneath these are in the centre two mitred abbots of the
early fourteenth century, flanked by a knight templar and a
knight hospitaller. At the bottom of the window are the arms
of Cobham of Sterborow, with (on either side) those of Berkeley
of Stoke Giff'ord, differenced of a label of three points.

To the west of this window is the south-west window con-
taining in the top light the arms of Mortimer, Earl of March,
and below, those of St. Loc (L), differenced with a label of
three points, and Berkeley on the right.

The subject of the pictorial part of the window is the
martyrdom of St. Edmund, the last of the native kings of East
Anglia, who, while fighting against the Danes in 870, was taken
prisoner. Being offered his freedom if he would abjure his
faith, he refused, and was put to death. His corpse was
removed to the place known in later times as Bury St.
Edmunds, where Canute erected a monastery in his honour.

The legend of the grey wolf watching over the severed head
is referred to in this window. It will be noted that the costume
of the soldiers practically fixes the date of the window —
1320.

Beneath St. Edmund is an archbishop, having on his right a

THE INTERIOR. yy

knight in armour bearing the arms of the Berkeleys, but without
the crosses pattee ; on the left a knight bearing on his shield
and surcoat the arms of the Berkeleys.

At the bottom of the window are the arms of Berkeley (L),
differenced with a label of three points, De Warrenne (C), and
l)e Bohun (R).

On the back of the reredos is a brass [)laLe, with an inscripticjii
as follows : —

A. M. D. G.

IN MEMOKIAM EPISCOI'ATUS
VIRI AUMODUM REVERENDI

CAROLI JOHANNIS ELLICOTT, S.T.P.

MODESTIA, BENKINITATE, LABORE INSKINIS,

PR.ECLARA SACRARUM LITTERARUM SCIENTIA

NOVUM TESTAMENTUM RECENSENTIUM PR.EI'OSIII,

HOC GRATI CONCORDISQUE ANI.MI

QUALECUNQUE TESTIMONIUM

DEDERUNT DEUICAVERUNT AMICI BRISTOI.IENSES

A.S. MDCCCXCIX.

Or in English :

" In memory of the episcopate of the Right Rev. C. J. Ellicott, D.D.,
a man remarkable for his moderation, his kindHness, his work, his sur-
passing knowledge of biblical literature, Chairman of the New Testament
Revision Committee, his friends in Bristol have gladly and unanimously
given this reredos. A.i). 1899."

At the entrance to the north choir aisle from the Lady
Chapel is the canopied tomb of Paul Bush, the first bishop
of the diocese. Under the canopy is an emaciated cadaver.

Browne Willis gives his epitaph as follows : —

" Hie jacet Dominus Paulus Bush, primus hujus Ecclesioe Episcopus, qui
obiit II die Octobris A.D. 1558- Aetatis suae 68. Cujusanimaepropitietur
Deus."

The Latin verses which are now barely legible are given in
Browne Willis : —

" Dignus qui primam circum sua tempora mitram

Indueret, jacet hie Bristoliense decus.
A patre Bush dictus, Paulum Baptisma vocavit,

Virtute implevit nomen utrumque sua.
Paulus Edintonias' bis Messes preco secutus

Instituit populum dogmate, Christe, tuo.

^ He had been prior at Edington in Wilts. His wife was buried below

the adjacent altar steps.

78 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Ille animos verbis impensis pavit egenos,

nine fructum arbusto pra.'buit ille suo —
Ut madidos arbusta juvant, sic foedere rupto

Inter disccirdcs pacificator erat."

At the east end of the north aisle is a most ornate Jacobean
monument to Sir Robert Codrington and his wife and their
seventeen children. The epitaph, an acrostic in Latin, is more
curious than interesting.

This tomb was in the chancel (the present Lady Chapel) up
to 1840-41, when it was removed here and restored by Sir
Bethel Codrington. It is a matter for regret that a beautiful
reredos, mutilated though it undoubtedly was by fanatics of an
earlier date, should have been further ruined or desecrated by
the erection of such an incubus in alabaster.

Close to this— in front of it — is a fine marble monument of
Harriet Isabella Middleton, sculptured by Bailey, the Bristol
sculptor. The kneeling figure, with the hands gracefully over
the breast, is full of tender feeling.

Near the tomb of Bishop Bush is a slab (with two ovals in
white marble) to Bishop Westfield, who, after passing through
the troublous times 1641-1644, was buried here. The inscrip-
tion according to Browne Willis (1727) ran as follows :—

" Hie jacet Thomas Westfield, S.T.P., Episcoporum infimus, peceatorum
primus, obiit 25 Junii Ann. MDCXI.IV., senio et moerore confectus. Tu
lector, quisquis es, vale et resipisee. Monumentum uxor mcestissima,
Elizabetha Westfield, marito desideratissimo posuit superstes."

Close to Westfield was buried his successor Thomas Howell,
1 644-1 646, who with his family was turned out into the streets
by the mob. His wife, who had lately been confined, died from
exposure when the roof of the palace was stripped off, and her
husband died in the same year. His gravestone bore the single
word ' Expergiscar.'

Other monuments of note are the bust of Southey — he was
born in Bristol — which is in one of the recesses in the north
wall. The bust is by Bailey. Also on the north wall is the
tablet to Mary, the wife of Mason the poet, who died, aged
twenty-eight, in 1767, with the lines :

"Take, holy Earth ! all tliat m_\' soul hnlds dear,
Take that best yift which heaven so lately gave.
To Bristol's fount I bore with trembling care
Her faded form ; she bowed to taste the wavg

THE INTERIOR. 79

And died. Does youth, docs beauty, read the Hue ?

Does sympathetic fear their breasts alarm ?

Speak, dead Maria ; breathe a strain divine :

E'en from the grave thou shalt have power to charm.

]5id them be chaste, be innocent hke thee,

Bid them in duties' sphere as meeklv move :

And if so fair, from vanity as free ;

As firm in friendsliip, and as fond in love,

Tell tliem, though 'tis an awful thing to die,

('Twas e'en to thee), yet the dread path once trod,

Heaven lifts its everlasting portals high,

And bids the pure in heart behold tlieir God."

On the same wall is a monument by Paine to the memory of
William Powell, the actor.

In the north aisle of the choir at the east end is another of
two windows, said traditionally to have been given to the
Cathedral by Nell Gwynne. The traces of armorial bearings in
the window, however, which are those of Glemham, give colour
to the theory that they were given by Dean Glemham, who, after
being Dean here from 1660-1667, became Bishop of St. Asaph. ^

In the central light in the top is the Resurrection, and below,
the delivery of Jonah from the Whale. On the left is the Agony
in the Garden of Gethsemane, with below, Abraham about to
offer up Isaac. On the right-hand side Elijah being translated
into Heaven, and above this, the Ascension of our Lord.

The other windows in the north aisle are at present plain
glass, with a few remains of fourteenth century glass in the
upper part of the tracery.

In the north wall of this north aisle will be noticed a doorway
in the third bay. It gives access to the curious passage designed
by Abbot Knowle to take the place of a triforium. This passage
leads to the staircase communicating with the central tower and
the belfry, and is the only means of access to the inside of the
windows of the choir and choir aisles.

At the foot of the staircase are some Norman corbels which
should be studied, as they are some of the few traces of Fitz-
harding's original church, though they are in all probability not
in their original position.

The Elder Lady Chapel. — This chapel, which is on the

^ Dean Glemham was the second son of Sir Henry Glemham, and the
jjaternal arms, with the crescent on the chevron as a charge or mark of
cadency, confirm this.

8o

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

north side of the Cathedral, opens into the north transept,
and also into the north ambulatory of the choir, and occu-
pies a place {vide plan) almost similar to that of the Early

6'. a. liolas £r> Co., Plioic. 1

THE ELDER I.ADV CHAPEI.

English Lady Chapel, of which only part remains, in the
Abbey of Tewkesbury. The epithet Elder is advisedly used,
as the Lady Chapel at the east end of the choir was of later

THE INTERIOR. 8 1

date. This Early English Chapel is one of the most interest-
ing portions of the older part of the building, and the masonry
shows the date of the work to be early thirteenth century.
Tradition assigns it to Abbot David, who presided over the
Abbey from 12 16 to 1234, and who is said, in Abbot New-
land's Roll, to have been buried in this chapel. Others have
assigned the work to Abbot John, who was abbot from 11 96
to 1 215. This may possibly be so, but the roof and the east
window are Decorated work. Originally this Lady Chapel was
detached from the rest of the building — the Norman aisles of
the choir having been much narrower, — a space of about 6 feet
intervening.

When the choir was rebuilt and lengthened by Abbot
Knowle, this intervening space ceased to exist, and the south
windows of the Early English Chapel were blocked up with
masonry. Other alterations were also made in the south side,
owing to the larger openings that were made for the entrance
from the north choir aisle — the chief being a partial recon-
struction of the arcading, as will be seen from an inspection of
the easternmost member of the arcade.

In the spandrels of the arcade there are some grotesque
carvings, not unlike those in the cathedral at Wells. We
have an ape playing on Pandean pipes to the accompaniment
of a ram and a violin. On another a goat blowing a horn and
carrying a hare on his .shoulder ; on another a contest between
a man armed with a spear and a dragon ; on }'et another the
time-honoured legend of the fox and the goose, so dear to the
monastic carvers.

Two arches give access to the north choir aisle, in the
easternmost of which is an altar-tomb to Maurice, the ninth
Lord Berkeley. The two inscriptions are as follows : —

" This tomb was erected to the memory of Maurice, Lord Berkeley, ninth
Baron of Berkeley Castle, who died the 8th day of June 136S."

"Also of the Lady Margaret, his mother, daughter of Roger Mortimer,
Earl of March, and wife of Thomas, Lord Berkeley. She died the 5th of
May 1337."

On the western side of the arch in which the tomb is
situated is a marble slab inscribed —

82 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

THE MONUMENT
OF

ROBERT FITZHARDING,

LORD OF BERKELEY,

DESCENDED FROM THE KINGS OF DENMARK ; AND

EVA HIS WIFE,

BY WHOM HE HAD FOUR SONS AND TWO DAUGHTERS :

MAURICE, HIS ELDEST SON,

WAS THE FIRST OF THE FAMILY THAT TOOK THE

NAME OF BERKELEY.

THIS ROBERT FITZHARDING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THIS

CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF ST. AUGUSTINE,

IN THE YEAR II4O, THE FIFTH OF KING STEPHEN:

DEDICATED AND ENDOWED IT IN II48.

HE DIED IN THE YEAR IIJO, IN THE SEVENTEENTH OF

KING HENRY THE SECOND.

THIS MONUMENT WAS REPAIRED A.I). I742.

FROM THE SAID ROBERT FITZHARDING, LORD OF BERKELEY,

AUGUSTUS, THE PRESENT EARL,

IS TWO AND TWENTIETH IN DESCENT.

This tablet merely commemorates the origin of the Berkeley
family, for Robert Fitzharding was buried at the entrance to
the Norman choir. The tomb contains two recumbent figures
of a knight in armour, and a lady, the former bearing the arms
of the Berkeleys, and with his head resting on a mitre. The
knight is probably Maurice, the ninth Lord Berkeley, and the
lady is his wife Elizabeth.

Over the monument there is a good groined canopy, and
this, with the one in the next bay, should be carefully noticed.
The panelling of the vaulting is carried on three small wall-
brackets.

Windows in the elder lady chapel. — T\\(t first window
(to the north-west) is a memorial to members of the Newstead
family ; the effect of the colour is quite killed by the
spottiness of the second window, in memory of Sir Y. Uavis.
This window is by Hardman.

The third is a memorial window (by Bell of Bristol) to
Canon Harvey, who died in 1854.

The. fourth, the north-east window, is to the memory of John
Foster, who died in 1880.

THE INTERIOR.

8-

The east window, by Hardman, has its subjects suggested by
the Magnificat.

In restoring this chapel it was thought necessary by the
architect to insert an additional order in the western archway —
that which communicates with the north transept. It was con-
sidered advisable at the time as a means of strengthening the
arch which had to transmit the thrust of the central tower to
the new and external buttress on the north side, but whether
it is to be justified on other grounds is an open question.

Another feature in this so-called restoration was the abolition
of the Perpendicular doorway made in the north-east bay by
Abbot Somerset, and the erection of the wrought-iron screen-
work, which, like that in the choir, is far too small in scale.

Photo., H.J. L.J. M A

THE REREDOS.

ARMS OF HENRY VIII. AND PRINCE EDWARD.
(From the spandrels of the Doorway to the Choir, now preserved in the Cloister.)

CHAPTER IV.

THE PRECINCTS.

The Sanctuary, the dimensions of which are given by
WiUiam Wyrcestre, was practically coterminous with those of
College Green. It seems that in the year 149 1-2 twelve
persons claimed sanctuary, each paying 4 pence for the
insertion of his name in the sacrist's book. In the sanctuary
were probably the shrine of St. Clement and St. Jordan's Chapel,
as the roll of accounts for 149 1-2 specifies the amount of 22
pence received from those two sources.

College Green. — This green or viridis placea was originally
somewhat larger in extent than it is now, at any rate towards
the west. There was a rope walk from east to west, as the
sacrist's receipts, quoted by Britton, showed the amount of
profit accruing therefrom.

Between the east end of the Cathedral and St. Augustine's
Churchyard was an enclosure called the Masonry. This was
later on leased out for the erection of dwellings, which extended
from the Cathedral to St. Augustine's Church. Early in the
eighteenth century the houses nearest to the Cathedral were re-
moved as being a nuisance, and the space on which they stood

TIIK PRECINCTS. 85

was made into an avenue leading into a new street called
Trinity Street, built on what was the garden in monastic times.

In the abbacy of Abbot Long there were disputes between
the Canons of St. Augustine and the brethren at St. Mark's
Hospital as to the rights of burial in this viridis placea, and of
pasturing animals there. The dispute was settled by the
Bishop of Worcester, who settled that the Canons were to bury
their dead there, on condition that they kept the ground level.
He gave to the Abbot of St. Augustine leave to mow the grass
and strew it in his two churches — i.e., the present Cathedral
and St. Augustine the Less. The right of common pasture he
expressly forbade to both claimants.

The High Cross. — A market cross is recorded to have
existed in Bristol as early as 1247, at the spot where High,
Broad, Wine, and Corn streets now meet, but the historic cross,
of which the High Cross on College Green is the successor,
was erected on the spot in 1373, the year of the granting by
Edward HL of the charter which made Bristol both a city and
a county. From the date of its erection we know what its style
must have been, and had it been preserved in its original form,
it would have been something of which the town could have
boasted. It contained in niches statues of King John, Henry
III., Edward III., to which were added one of Edward IV.
after his visit in 1461. At the end of the fifteenth century it
was renewed as to its colouring and gold enrichments. Early
in the seventeenth century the people of Bristol increased the
height of the cross to nearly 40 feet, in order to make room
for statues of Henry VI., Elizabeth, James I. and Charles I.,
and for a frieze of boys bearing shields. To add to the effect,
the city stocks were placed close to the base of the cross.

In 1733 the cross was removed, partly owing to complaints of
its insecurity, partly owing to the growth of the street traffic,
and the pieces were stored in the Guildhall cellars for some
years, when the Dean and Chapter gave leave for its erection
in the centre of College Green. After a stay of a few years it
was again taken down and stored in a corner in the Cathedral,
and given by the then Dean to Sir Henr\- Hoare, who set it up
in his grounds at Stourhead.

In 1849 the Dean and Chapter proposed the erection of
the present cross, and the foundation was laid at the corner of
College Green. After remaining here for nearly forty years,

86 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

the cross was taken down and rcerected in the centre of the
Green. It is ostensibly modelled on the lines of the original
cross at Stourhead, and the statues, which, with the exception
of that of Edward III., which was erected in 1855, were carved
by Hems of Exeter, are said to be copies of the old work — but
the cross is merely decorative, not Decorated.

The statue of Queen Victoria is by Boehm.

Monastic Buildings. — Of these but few traces remain to
us. Much was destroyed at the dissolution as superfluous,
much has disappeared later, partly on purpose, partly by
being incorporated with modern dwelling-houses, and thus
lost to sight.

At the south-west end of the nave of the original church
was a door leading into the western alley of the cloisters. To
the west of the nave was the Prior's lodging, of Norman work,
portions of which with Decorated additions were standing ^
up to the time of the building of the new and wider west
front by Mr. Street (1882). To the north of this, but between
the west front and the gatehouse, was the Guest-house. It was
for some time the Chapter office, but was pulled down in 1885.

The existing great gateway stands no doubt on the site of
the principal entrance to the original monastery of Fitzharding,
but it is a doubtful question as to the amount of the original
work that is still to be traced. Some have thought that the
small doorway is the only portion that remains of Fitzharding's
work, others that the lower half generally of the whole gateway
is of that date ; others again that the gateway was restored
by Abbot Elyot before he rebuilt the upper part. He may
have done this between the years 15 15-1 526, either as part of
his own general plan — as he certainly rebuilt part of the
cloisters, and is generally assumed to have intended to rebuild
the nave — or in continuation of Abbot Newland's ^ work, whose
statue, with that of Elyot, was in the upper storey of the front.

Mr. Godwin wrote of this archway that, " Although it presents
a fair specimen of rich Norman work, and probably retains its
origmal proportions and design, there are one or two minor
points of arrangement and detail which are scarcely what we
should expect to find in Norman work, and which, combined

1 Archdeacon Norris writes that he well remembered Professor Freeman's
wrath when he heard of this removal.

- Newland's arms are also on the archway in Lower College Green.

TIIK PRECINCTS. 8/

with the exquisite ' finish,' indicate the reconstruction of this
gateway as amongst the later ante-Reformation works in progress.
Thus the hood-mouldings which surround all the arches are
not only of Perpendicular section, but at the crown of the arch
are mitred into the confessedly Perpendicular string-course of
the same section, whilst the jointing of the masonry in the
south-west jamb is not continuous, but the outer order breaks
joint with the other, and the courses are nearly double the
usual height of Norman masonry, so that the so-called
Norman gateway of College Green is no Norman gateway,
but a Perpendicular restoration of the old work."

In the main this corroborates Britton's view, who, writing in
1811 of this archway, said the "mouldings and details are
peculiarly sharp, square and perfect, and this, with the unusual
forms of a few of the ornaments, induce some persons to believe
that the whole edifice is comparatively modern, but imitative
of older works." Britton, too, considered the upper part to
have been wholly built or materially altered by Abbot Newland
and his successor Elyot, and he shows that the arms of the
latter (argent, on a chief gules, two mullets of six points,
pierced, of the first) were there in his time, with those of Abbot
Newland.

On the north side were, until the restoration by Mr. Pearson
in 1 883-1 888, two mutilated statues, and close to them the
arms of Edward the Confessor and of De Clare. This would
justify the ascription of the two statues to King Edward and
one of the De Clares. Between these shields were the arms of
England quartered with those of France, surmounted by a crown.
One of the two lower statues on this side had formerly the
arms of England, and the other had the arms of the Berkeleys.
If these two statues were intended for Henry II. and Robert
Fitzharding, it would account for the inscription of Perpen-
dicular lettering, which used to run as follows : " Rex Henricus
Secundus et Dominus Robertus filius Hardingi, filii regis Daciae,
hujus monasterii, primi fundatores exstiterunt."

Britton, Arch. Antiquities, says of this : "As King Henry II.
did not succeed to the tlirone till 1154, there must be some
error in this inscription or in the former date, unless, indeed,
Henry joined Fitzharding in the foundation before he came
to the throne, or unless it applies to the time of converting the
priory into an abbey, which change, according to Tanner, in his

88 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Notitia Monas/ka, took place at the latter end of the reign of
Henry the Second."

Below the figures on a fascia was a row of four roses, with
one of larger size in the centre, surmounted with a crown, and
on either side of this were coats of arms. On the left were the
arms of the Poyntz family quartered with those of Acton,
Clanbow, and FitzNicholas of Ticknam ; on the right those
of the Berkeleys. In the spandrels of the arch were large
roses, and in the head of the arch in the hood-moulding
the arms of Abbot Newland.

The archway proper consists of four recessed orders en-
riched with chevron, and other mouldings and ornaments.

This north side now looks painfully new and terribly isolated.

In the main archway is arcading, very much in the style of
the later work in the chapter-house, and elaborately interlaced
and ornamented.

On the south side there were, before the restoration, two
much defaced and weathered statues, probably those of the
Cobhams of Sterborow and the Berkeleys without the crosses
pattee, as these arms were to be traced on the adjacent shields.

Below were the statues of the two abbots, Newland and
Elyot, as their arms, which were below them, would seem to
show.

In the fascia were four roses, with the royal arms in the
centre, flanked by those of the Berkeleys. The spandrels, as on
the north side, were enriched with large roses.

The present Deanery is on the site of what was formerly
cellarage, and traces of early Norman work, as well as of
Decorated and Perpendicular work, have been found in-
corporated in the walls.

The former Deanery occupied a site to the west of the gate-
house. It was demolished when the new road was made, with
the exception of a few rooms which abut on the gatehouse.

Of the Cloisters there are but very scanty remains. The
north alley was moved southward by Mr. Street when the new
nave was begun. Mr. Godwin noted that the cloister had
been rebuilt by Abbot Elyot on part of the south aisle, and
from this inferred that the nave had been demolished before
this rebuilding took place. It now contains various monumental
tablets, removed from their original places in the Cathedral.

A certain amount of reconstruction was undoubtedly

Photo., H.J. L.J. M.\

UOUK Ol-' KEl'KCTOKV.

90

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

necessary, as in prints of the south west view of the Cathedral
given in 1817, in Storer's Cathedrals of Great Britain, ihaxit are
domestic buildings {i.e. the backs of houses two storeys lower
than the part which backed on to the then existing part of the
nave), built flush with the line of the Perpendicular cloister wall.

^". B. Bolas if Co., Photo. I
ENTRANCE TO SOUTH TRANSEPT FROM CLOISTERS.

The beautiful Early English doorway m the south-west
corner of the cloister (unfortunately mutilated in recent years)
was formerly the entrance to the Refectory from the cloister.

In the west wall of the area once contained by the cloister

I

THE PRECINCTS. 9I

is a Decorated doorway, which was rescued from destruction
and inserted in its present place by the efforts of Archdeacon
Norris.

After the dissolution of the monastery the cloisters were
much built upon, and within recent times a dwelling-house,
now fortunately demolished, occupied much of the area of the
original garth.

At the present time there are stored in the cloisters the
screen erected in the Cathedral by Thomas Wright. The
delicate carving has suffered by its removal by Dean Elliott in
1860,^ and it has suffered much at various times since then.
It was a typical piece of work with good carving, and it seems
a pity that a place cannot be found for it where it might be
preserved even if not appreciated.

The east walk of the cloisters has also been restored, the
tracery being all new, and the stained glass by Messrs. Bell of
Bristol.

In the six lights opposite the vestibule of the chapter-house
are portraits of Henry II., Fitzharding — the founder of the
abbey — and Henry VIII., the founder of the see; also St.
Augustine, with Abbots Newland and Elyot. The timbered
roof is entirely new, and replaces a flat plaster ceiling which
formerly existed at the level of the top of the large corbels.
These corbels seem to be an indication that a vaulted roof was
intended to be added by the Perpendicular builders.

The door from this alley into the south transept was
designed by Mr. Street.

At the south end of this alley is the Minor Canons' vestry.
It contams a model of the Bishop's Palace, which was burned
down in the riots of 1831.

The Chapter House. — This room, which is entered by a
door in the east alley of the cloisters, is one of the oldest parts of
the earlier fabric of the Cathedral, and, as Britton truly says, " in
its original state must have been one of the most interesting
of the kind in the kingdom, and perhaps in Europe."

In spite of what it has undergone at the hands of architects,
restorers, and rioters, it is most interesting still, a regular
parallelogram in shape, measuring 42 feet in length by 25 in
breadth, and 25 feet m height, divided into two bays.

' It stood across the choir at the end of the second bay eastwards from tlie
tower pier — i.e., two bays east of the present unfinished screen.

92

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL

At the time of the restoration, as Mr. Godwin states, the
condition of the groining of the second bay clearly pointed to
the fact that there was a third bay to this apartment. Canon

.V. />'. /.Way ^^-(,^, /•//,..•,'. I

KNIKANCK I'O CHAPTER IIOUSF.

Norris has said that he had a trench dug six feet deep in
continuation of the south wall, and found no traces of any
foundations. Mr. Godwin suggests that there may have been

THE PRECINCTS.

93

an eastern recess or apse for the abbot's throne, or that
Wyrcestre's measurements were exterior measurements.

The eastern wall, which dates from 1831, has three windows,
and the west wall has also three round-headed arches, the

S. B. Bo/as dr' C c. , P/io/o.

THE CHAPTER HOUSE.

central one being the main door, while the side ones serve as
windows, each being subdivided l)y a small pier. Each of
these main openings has a label of cable-moulding. Above
this cable-moulding is an arcade of interlacing arches, borne
by thirteen tall piers, alternately plain and twisted ; and above

94

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

this is a semicircular space, also filled with round-headed

uitersecting arches, so arranged as to fill the semicircular space.

The north and south walls have a plam round-headed

arcading below, with a bold round moulding, while above

THY

.V. /.'. Inilas &^ Co. , Photo. I

ARCAIMNC; IN TUK CHAPTER HOUSE.

is an elaborate arcading, similar to the lower tier on the west
wall, but with much richer capitals. Above this is interlaced
lattice-work, and above this in one bay a space covered with
zig-zag mouldings. The shafts of the arcading on the walls are
alternately richly carved or almost plain. The clustered

TflE TRECINCTS.

95

communi-

shafts, from which the main arch of the vauUing springs, are
pecuharly rich in ornamentation.

A small vestry, now appropriated to the Tannn"-
Gates with the chapter-house by a
door in the south wall. It contains
a notable piece of very early sculp-
ture, which was found under the
chapter-house floor when it was
relaid after the destructive fire in
1 83 1. It was serving the purpose
of a coffin lid.^ Twelve coffins in
all were found, but as they had been
previously disturbed and relaid,
nothing of any value or mterest
remained in any of them. It may
be assumed that the graves w^ere
made for some of the earlier abbots.

The entrance or vestibule of the
chapter-house is to be noted by the
student of architecture as showing
a very early example of what ma}-
be called a pointed arch, while the
mouldings and members are quite
of the circular style and character.
From north to south the arches are
round-headed, but from east to west
they are pointed. This Transi
tional Norman work — dating from
Fitzharding's time — is of special
interest.

In 17 13, in the time of Dean
Booth, the floor of the chapter-
house was raised to between two and three feet above the
original level, large sash windows were inserted in place of the

1 The subject, according to Archdeacon Norris, is the "seed of the
woman crushing with one foot the serpent's head, while the serpent is
seen to be wounding the Saviour's other heel. The meaning of the
wounded heel is shown by the Cross in our Lord's right hand, while infant
souls of men are clinging to that Cross, and so being lifted out of the jaws
of death, thus interpreting the crushing of the serpent's head .... and
the Saviour's hand is clasjied round the hands of the redeemed, lest they
should let go their hold of his Cross."

COFFIN I. ID.

(Found under the floor of the
Chapter House.)

96 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

old circular windows, and the walls were lavishly coated with
whitewash. The Dean and Chapter were not ashamed to
commemorate their vandalism by the following inscription : —
" Capitularis haec domus reparata et ornata fuit, a.d. 17 13
Honorabili et Reverendo Roberto Booth, S.T.P., decano,
Jacobo Harcourt, S.T.P.,vice-decano, Hugone Waterman, A.M.,
Thesaurario." All traces of their changes, together with the
tablet, were removed m the restoration of the chapter-house in
1831 after the riots and the fire.

Britton, in his drawing of the exterior east end, made in 1830,
gives it a blocked-up arch (apparently of Decorated work), in
which is a misshapen and ugly sash-window in the southern
])ortion of the blocking masonry. If this drawing is right,
William Wyrccstre may have been right in his measurement
of a length of 56 gressus and a breadth of 18 gressus.

The Dormitory was on the eastern side of the cloisters-
traces of its windows are still to be seen in the wall over the
calefactory— and access to the church was given by the passage
over the vestibule of the chapter-house to the stairs in the
south transept.

The Infirmary probably stood at the south-east corner of
the block of monastic buildings, but from the letters patent of
Henry VIII., which established the bishopric, it seems clear
that the abbot's lodging, which was declared to be henceforth
and for ever the bishop's messuage or palace, was on the same
site. The wording of the letters patent are plain enough, but
there may have been some confusion in copying them, as
the words are in the main similar to those in the document
referring to Gloucester, where the Abbot's lodging certainly
became the Bishop's Palace.

It is just possible that a place for the infirmary had been
found elsewhere in the buildings.

Mr. Godwin placed the Abl)ot's lodging at the south-west
corner of the monastic buildings — i.e., considerably nearer to
the Lower College Gateway. Archdeacon Norris, who lived
in this house, on exploring its drainage, found some curious
underground passages of Perpendicular work. These may
have been the work of Abbot Newland, whose arms are on the
gateway, but it is a doubtful j)oint whether this house was the
site of the Abbot's lodging.

The Refectory was close to the kitchen-court, and originally

THE PRECINCTS.

97

was of small size, the numbers on the foundation not requiring
a large dining-room. In the fifteenth century a new refectory
was built, more than twice the size of the earlier one, on this
south side of the cloister. 'William Wyrcestre's measurements of
it were 26 paces by 16, or, roughly, 35 feet long by 21 feet wide.

After the dissolution it was divided into two storeys, lighted
by spacious windows above the lean-to roof of the cloister, and
converted into a canon's residence. It is now the residence
of the headmaster of the cathedral school.

The gateway in Lower College Green, which is probably of
Fitzharding's time, though strengthened by Abbot Newland,
whose arms are upon it, was formerly the gateway to the
Abbot's lodgings, and later, up to 1831, to the Bishop's Palace,
which stood, however, much more to the east, beyond the site
of the second or smaller cloister, where the school playground
is now.

Photo., H. J. L. J. .1/1

GATEWAY IN THE LOWER COLLECIE IIREEN.

H

98 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

THE BISHOPS PALACE.

Bishop Wright — who was the first warden of Wadham
College, Oxford — was Bishop from 1623 to 1632, and spent
much on the Cathedral as well as on his official residence.
Bishop Howell — 1644-1646— was brutally treated by the
Parliamentary forces and turned out into the streets. The roof
of the palace was stripped off, and the contents of the house
plundered. Bishop Goulston or Gulston in 1683 petitioned
Charles II., complaining of the Dean and Chapter, who had
disposed of the Canon's little marsh for the building and
repairing of ships. The Bishop alleged that he could not live
in any part of his house with comfort owing to the noise and
the stench from the workshops. Bishop Butler — 1738-1750^
spent more than ;i^4ooo on repairs and improvements to the
palace. During the progress of the repairs, a floor gave way
and disclosed the existence of a subterranean apartment or cell,
with its original entrances blocked up, and containing bones
and implements of iron. The use of this cell is uncertain.

It was this palace which was destroyed by the Reform rioters
in 1 83 1, in the episcopate of Bishop Gray. Some ruins of it
remain, showing a part of the private chapel and the cellarage
beneath.

CHAPTER V.

THE ABBOTS, AND THE SEE.

Richard (i 148-1 186). He was elected Archbishop of Dol,
and died at Rome 11 88, whither he had gone for consecration.

Philip (1186-1196), became Abbot of Bellaland or Byland
in Yorkshire.

John (1196-1215).

Joseph : died before installation, and was succeeded by

David (1125-1234). He resigned in 1234. He was buried
in the Elder Lady Chapel in 1253.

William de Bradestan (or Bradestone). Formerly the
Prior, became Abbot. In his time the church of St. Augustine
the Less was begun, as the tenants of the monastery were cut
off by the alterations to the course of the Frome.

William Long (i 236-1 264) was buried "afore the image
of Our Lady." This was probably in the north transept.

Richard de Malmesbury (1264-1276).

John de Marina (i 276-1287), another feeble abbot. The
Bishop of Worcester complained in 1278 that the house was
damnabiliter prolapsum, and it continued so for another four
years. The Abbots had been partly absentees, and also living
beyond their incomes. He was buried in the Chapter-house.

Hugh de Dodington (1287-1294) "was buried before the
image of Our Lady in the cross north aisle atwixt two other
abbots."

James Barry (1294-1306). " Buried under a marble stone
on the south side of the rood altar under the arch there."

Edmund Knowle (1306-1332) was "buried under a
broad marble stone straight before the Rood altar in the nave."
Monujueiitum si requiris, circumspice.

John Snow (1332-1341). The first and only Abbot of
Bristol who sat in Parliament. One of the four benefactors

100 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

annually commemorated in former times. He was buried
" under a broad marble stone in the entrance to the Rood
altar."

Ralpe Ashe (1341-1352). He obtained exemption from
attendance in Parliament on the ground that " he held not by
barony, nor was his Abbey of royal foundation." Buried in the
middle of the choir "within the gryce (or step) afore the
youngest novices' stalls."

William Coke (1353-1363), previously the sub-prior.
He was buried " in the space before the door entering into Our
Lady's Chapel, above the high altar."

Henry Shellingford (or Blebury) (1363-1388). He was
buried in the " nether tomb of the presbytery which he caused
to be made besides the high altar."

John Cerney orCerny (1388-1393). He was buried "in
the over tomb of the aforesaid presbytery."

John Daubeney (1393-1428). Buried in the "high tomb
in the north side of the Rood altar."

Walter Newbury (1428-1455 and 1460-1473), a great
benefactor to the abbey. He is buried in " the over arch of
Our Lady's Chapel on the north side of the altar."

Thomas Sutton (1455-1460) was instrumental in causing
the temporary removal and miprisonment of Newbury. After
Newbury's restoration Sutton appealed to the Pope in vain.

William Hunt ( 1473-148 1). He is " buried in the north
side of Our Lady Chapel, in the nether dccch by the quire there."

John de Newland or Nailheart (1481-1515). Known as
the ' Good Abbot.' He compiled a register of remarkable events
in the abbey history. This was formerly preserved at Berkeley
Castle, but only a copy now exists. Newland is buried " in the
south side of Our Lady Chapell, in the arch there by the dore
going into the loft going to the organs."

Robert Elyot (1515-1526). He is credited with the
building of the upper portion of the abbey gate-house and the
finishing of the north transept.

John Somerset (1526-1533). Built a door giving an
entrance into the west bay of the Elder Lady Chapel.

William Burton (1533-1537)- Seems to have made some
additions to the screen in the Lady Chapel. His rebus is there
underneath the east window.

William Morgan, or Morgan Guilliam Ap Guilliam

THE SEE. rOI

(1537-1539). He was pensioned with ^80 i)er annum at the
Dissolution in 1539.

THE SEE.

The see of Bristol was established by Henry VHI. in 1542,
as the following extract from the letters patent will show : —

" We from our heart affecting nothing more than that the
true religion and true worship of God may not only not be
abolished, but rather that it may be wholly restored and
reformed to the primitive rule of its own genuine purity ; and
having corrected the enormities into which the life and pro-
fession of the monks in the long course of time had most
deplorably fallen, and even aggravated, we have endeavoured,
as far as human infirmity can provide against it, that in future
in this same place instructions out of the holy oracles and
sacraments of our saving redemption may be purely ad-
ministered, the discipline of good manners be sincerely kept,
youth be liberally instructed in learning, old age failing in
strength be cherished with things necessary for their support,
that alms to the poor may abound, and the repairs of highways
and bridges may hence be supported, etc., we have therefore
established this bishopric."

In this charter, dated 4th June 1542, full details are given
of the constitution of the new foundation. There were to be
a dean, six canons, six minor canons, one of them to act as
sacrist, one deacon, six lay clerks, one master of the choristers,
two masters of the grammar school, four almsmen, one sub-
sacrist or sexton, one porter or verger, one butler and two
cooks; but, as Britton says, "the three latter have long since
been suppressed."

Pope Paul IV. empowered Cardinal Pole in 155 1 to refound
the see of Bristol, and Bishop Holyman was appointed by this
Pope to the see.

After Charles I. was executed in 1649, Sir William Cann pro-
claimed that there was no King in England, etc., and the estates
of the bishopric were sold. On 30th April in the same year an
Act of Parliament was passed providing for the sale of the lands
belonging to the Dean and Chapter.

The diocese of Bristol was made to consist of a part of that
of Salisbury, by the including the county and archdeaconry of

I02 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Dorset : part again was derived from the large diocese of
Worcester, and by the including of several parishes which,
though in the city of Bristol, were in the diocese of Gloucester.
Three churches or chapelries also in Bristol, which hitherto had
been in the diocese of Bath and Wells, and the county of
Bristol.

This arrangement lasted till 1836, when Dorset, being taken
out of Bristol diocese, and Bedminster, which included Redcliff,
being restored to the diocese of Bath and Wells, the sees of
Bristol and Gloucester were fused into one. In 1 845 Bed-
minster was retransferred to the diocese of Bristol and
Gloucester, and in 1897 the Bristol and Gloucester sees
were separated, the first bishop of the newly-created or the
finally separated see being the Right Rev. George Forrest
Browne, D.D.

BISHOPS,

Paul Bush (1542-1554). Formerly master of the ' Bon-
hommes ' at Edyngdon in Wiltshire. He married Edith
Ashley, and rather than repudiate her, was deprived of his see
by Queen Mary. He died in 1558. His tomb is in the north
choir aisle.

John Holyman (1554-1558).

Richard Cheyney (i 562-1579).

John BulHngham (1581-1589). These two prelates held
Bristol /// coiiimoidam with the see of Gloucester.

Richard Fletcher (i 589-1 593). He was translated to
Worcester, and left the see of Bristol so much impoverished
that it was vacant for ten years. According to Fuller, he died
from the effects of the immoderate use of tobacco.

John Thornborough (1603-16 17). Translated from
Limerick to Bristol, and thence to Worcester, where he died
in 1641.

Nicholas Felton (16 17-1 61 9). Translated to Ely, and
died 1626. One of the translators of the Authorised Version.

Roland Searchfield (1619-1622). Chaplain to James L

Robert Wright (162 2- 1632). He had been the first
warden of Wadham College, Oxford. Translated to Lichfield
1632. Committed to the Tower by the House of Commons
for protesting against the proceedings of the House in 1641.

BISHOPS. 103

Deprived of all preferments, he retired to Eccleshall Hall,
which he held for a time successfully against the Parlia-
mentarians. Two days after his death the Hall was
surrendered.

George Coke (1632-1636). Translated to Hereford, and
died in 1646.

Robert Skinner (i 636-1 641). Translated to Oxford, and
in 1663 to Worcester. He was imprisoned by Parliament in
1 64 1, and died in 1670.

Thomas Westfield (1642-1644). A celebrated preacher
of his time. He was buried in the Cathedral in the north
aisle of the choir.

Thomas Howell (i 645-1646). Formerly a chaplain to
Charles I. Ill-treated by the men of Bristol after the
surrender of the city to the Parliament. He w-as buried in
the Cathedral. His tombstone, bearing the one word
' Expergiscar,' has been destroyed.

Gilbert Ironside was made Bishop shortly after the
Restoration — viz., in January 166 r. Died 167 1.

Guy Carlton (Carleton or Charlton) (1671-1678). Trans-
lated to Chichester.

William Gulston (or Goulson) (i 678-1684).

John Lake (1684-1685). Translated from Sodor and
Man. He was one of the Seven Bishops. After the Revolution
he was deprived as a non-juror.

Sir John Trelawney (1685-1689). Translated to Exeter,
and thence to Winchester in 1707. He also was one of the
famous Seven.

Knightly Chetwood was nominated by James H. in 1688,
but the appointment was not confirmed.

Gilbert Ironside (1689-169 1 ). Translated to Hereford.
He was the son of the former Bishop of the same name.

John Hall (1691-1709). Master of Pembroke, and Lady
Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford. Buried in St.
Aldate's Church, Oxford.

John Robinson (17 10-17 14). Ambassador to the Court
of Sweden, 1683-1708. Dean of Windsor and Registrar of
the Order of the Garter in 1711, also Lord Privy Seal. He
was a plenipotentiary for the Treaty of Utrecht, and a com-
missioner for the completion of St. Paul's Cathedral. Trans-
lated to London 1714, and died 1723.

I04 BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

George Smallridge (17 14-17 19). Dean of Christ
Cluirch, Oxford.

Hugh Boulter (17 19-1724). Translated to Armagh.

William Bradshaw (i 724-1 732). Was also Dean of Christ
Church. Buried in liristol Cathedral.

Charles Cecil (i 732-1 734). Translated to Bangor.

Thomas Seeker (1735-1737).

Thomas Gooch (i 737-1 738). Translated to Bangor, and
thence in 174S to Ely.

Joseph Butler (i 738-1 750). The distinguished author
of The Analogy of ^e/igion {i^T)^). Dean of St. Paul's 1740.
Translated to Durham 1750. He died at Bath 1752, and was
buried in pjristol Cathedral.

John Conybeare (1750-1756). Was also Dean of Christ
Church, Oxford. Buried in the Cathedral.

John Hume (1756-1758). Translated to Oxford, and
thence to Salisbury, 1774.

Philip Yonge (or Young) (i 758-1 761). Translated to
Norwich.

Thomas Newton (i 761-1782). Dean of St Paul's 1768-
1782. Anthox of Dissertatiojis of Frophecy, 2i\\6. editor of the
4to edition of Milton's Poems.

Lewis Bagot (1782-1783). Translated to Norwich.

Christopher Wilson (1783-1792).

Spencer Madan (1792-1794). Translated to Peter-
borough.

Henry Reginald Courtenay (1794-1797). Translated

to Exeter.

FoUiott H. Cornewall (1797-1802). Translated to
Hereford, and thence in 1808 to Worcester.

Hon. George Pelham (1803-1807). Translated to
Exeter.

John Luxmore (1807-1808). Translated to Hereford,
and thence in 1815 to St. Asaph.

William Lort Mansel (1808-1820).

John Kaye (1820-1827). Translated to Lincoln.

Robert Gray (1827-1834).

Joseph Allen (i 834-1 836).

The see of Bristol having been united to that of Gloucester,
it was held successively by —

James Henry Monk (1836-1856).

DEANS.

105

Charles Baring (i 856-1 861). Translated to Durham.
William Thomson (1861-1862). Translated to York.
Charles John Ellicott (1863-1898).
In 1 89 7 the two sees were again separated, and the
bishopric of Bristol has been held from January 1898 by
George Forrest Browne (1898- ).

DEANS.

NAME.

NSTAL.

NAME.

INSTAL.

William Snow,

1542

George Royse,

• 1693

John Wiiiteiieare, .

• I55I

Robert Boothe,

. 1708

George Carew,

1552

Samuel Creswick, .

• 1730

Thomas ]\aynolds,

• 1553

Thomas Chamberlayne,

■ 1739

Henry Jolliffe,

• 1554

William Warburton,

• 1757

George Carew [restored)

1559

Samuel Squire,

. 1760

John Sprint,

1579

Francis Ayscough,

. I76I

Anthony Watson,

1590

Cutts Barton,

■ 1763

Simon Robson,

1598

John Hallam,

. I781

Edward Chetwynd,

1617

Charles Peter Layard

. 1800

Matthew Nichols,

1639

Bowyer Ed. Sparke,

• 1803

Henry Glemham, .

1660

John Parsons,

. 181O

Richard Towgood,

1667

Henry Beeke,

. 1814

Samuel Grossman,

16S3

Thomas Musgrave,

■ 1837

Richard Thomson,

1684

John Lamb, .

. 1837

William Level,

1685

Gilbert Elliott,

. 1850

Francis Pigou

. 1891

APPENDIX.

William Wyrcestre (or Botoner), often wrongly called
William of Worcester, was born in Bristol in 1415. He took
his degree at Oxford, and became physician and steward to Sir
John Falstaf. After a busy life he returned to Bristol, and
lived in St. Philip's parish, and spent much time in surveying
the churches and streets of Bristol and other towns. His MS.
notes were preserved by Archbishop Parker, and are in the
Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Several
copies are in existence, but the Cambridge MS., which was
edited by Nasmith in 1778, is the best.

His notes on the Cathedral and St. Mary Redcliff are
always interesting, but not always quite clear.

Wyrcestre seems to have died about 1484,

DIMENSIONS.

Length, total external,

300 feet.

,, ,, internal.

284 „

,, of Nave,

125 „

Width, including Aisles,

69 „

Length of Transept, .

115 „

Width

29 „

Height of Vault in Nave,

52 ,,-

„ in Choir,

50 „

Area,

■ 22,556 sq. ft

GROUND PL/^N OF

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL

^. NORTH AISLE

L-^ 0> ♦ ♦

NAVE

^

^

"TOWEF

;> O ♦ ♦

SOUTH /^iSLE

A

CLOISTER
COURT

VESTRYl

MINOR
CANONS
VESTRY

MORMATS
] EARLY ENGLISH
DECOR/STED
PERPEISDICULflR

CHVRCHYARD

Na/. HL0R.D

Monument of Sir Richard Newton Cradock

(circa 1500).
Monument of Sir Henry Newton (d. 1599).
Monument of Sir John Newton (d. i66i).
Tomb of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (d. 1243).
Tomb of Maurice, Lord Berkeley (d. 1281).
Sacristy.

7. Berkeley Tomb ('? 1309).

8. Grosett Tomb (1820).

9. Tomb of Abbot Newland (d. 1481).

10. Sedilia.

11. Tomb of Abbot Newbury (d. 142S).

12. Tomb of Abbot Hunt (d. 1473).

13. Tomb of Bishop Bush (d. 1558).

14. Monument of Mrs Middleton (1S26).

15. Remains of old Reredos.

16. 17. Tombs.

18. Tomb of Maurice, 9th Lord Berkeley (d. 136S).

19. Arched Recess.

20. Stairs to Dormitory.

21. Rebus of Abbot Newland.

22. Monument of Sir Charles Vaughan (1630).

INDEX.

Akms of the See, 25.
Ashe, Abbot, 12, 60.
Ashfield, John, 15, 48.

Bailey, Sculptor, 62, 78.
Baptistery, the, 42, 43.
Bells, the, 25.

Berkeley Chapel, 8, 65-67 ; vestibule
to, 63.

,, family and tombs, 7, 11.
38, 63, 67, 81.

,, arms, 64. 66, 67, 72.
Bishop's palace, 98.
Booth, Dean, 95, 96.
Burton, Abbot, 17 ; rebus of, 72.
Bush, Bishop, 18, 53 ; tomb of, 52,

Butler, Bishop, monument to, 49,

60 ; tablet to, 74.
Butler tower, 29, 30, 44.
Buttresses, the flying, 32.

Carpenter, Marv, memorial to,

47-

Chapter House, the, 91-96.

Choir, the Norman, 10, 51 ; restora-
tion of, 21 ; description of, 50-58 ;
screen, 52, 54, 55, 91 ; aisles, 58.

Cloisters, the, 17, 30, 37, 88-91.

Codrington, Sir Robert, tomb of, 78.

Coke, Abbot, 12 ; burial-place of, 70.

College Green, 84.

Colston, Edward, 20 ; window to,
24, 46.

ColsLon tower, 29, 30, 42, 43.

Consistory Court, the, 48.

Corfe, J. D. , 56 ; window to, 68.

Cradock, Sir K. Newton, tomb of,
60.

Deanery, the, 88.
Decorated work, 11, 32, 50, 59, 60,
62, 63, 81, 91.

Early English Work, 8, 32, 47,

81, 90.
Elder Lady Chapel, the, 8, 15,

79-82 ; door in wall of, 16, 32 :

restoration of, 24, 32, 47.
EUicott, Bishop, 25, 52 ; tablet to,

77-
Elliott, Dean, 21, 53, 56, 72, 73,

91 ; effigy of, 40.
Elyot, Abbot, 16, 30, 45, 86, 87,

88 ; arms of, 72.

Fargus (F. J.), "Hugh Conway."'

memorial to, 47.
Fitzharding, Robert, 3 et seq., 35,

50, 86 ; tablet to, 82.
Foster, John, window to, 82.

Gateway, the Great, 16, 86 ;

restoration of, 24.
Glemham windows, 68, 79.
Gray, Bishop, tablet to, 60, 62.
Grosett tomb, 67.

High Cross, the, 85.
Howell, Bishop, 78, 98.
Hunt, Abbot, 14, 38, 45, 48, 72 ;
arms of, 72 ; tomb of, 71, 73.

KxowLE, Abbot, 8, 10, II, 16, 37,
39, 41, 50. 5i> 58, (>l, 65, 67, 71,
72, 79-

Lady Chapel, the, 68-73 '• >eredos
in, 21.

112

INDEX.

Lectern, the, 44 ; history of the old,
44, 45-

Maktvn, Prior John, 15.
Mason, Mary, tablet to, 78.
Masonry, the, 84.

Middleton, Harriet Isabella, monu-
ment to, 78.
Monastic Buildings, remains of, 86.
Moseley, Canon, 23, 39.
Muller,' W., memorial to, 49.

Nave, the Old, 8, 16, 35 ; demoli-
tion of, 17, 18, 37 ; rebuilding of,
24, 39, 40 ; description of, 40 et
seq.

Newbury, Abbot, 14, 30, 50 ; tomb
of, 72, 73.

Newland, Abbot, 14, 16, 17, iS, 38,
40, 47, 60, 86, 87 ; tomb of, 71,

73) 9^5 97 ' ^'^1'^"'^ of) ^S' 9^'
Newton Chapel and tombs, li, 60-

62.
Norman Work, 10, 16, 17, 79,86;

transitional, 9.
Xorris, Canon, 17, 24, 39, 91, 92.

Organ, the, 55-58-

Palmer family, brasses to, 42.
Pearson, J. H., his restoration, 16,

21, 24, 32, 47, 52, 53, 87.
Perpendicular work. 16, 17, 30, +5,

7I) 87.
Phillips, William, memorial to, 49.

Porch, the North, 33.

Powell, William, monument to, 79.

Refectory, the, 96 ; doorway of,
89, 90.

Reredos, the, 25. 52, 53, 83 ; in
Lady Chapel, 71.

Sacristy, the, 64-67.

Sanctuary, the, 84.

See, foundation of the, 17, loi ;

arms of the, 25.
Snow, Abbot, li, 48, 51, 60, 67.
Somerset, Abbot, 16, 32, 45.
Southey, R., 49 ; bust of, 78.
Stanhope, Elizabeth, monument to,

62.
Street, G. E., 7, 14, 23, 24, 39, 42,

86, 88, 91.

Tower, the Central, 14, 23, 25, 30,

51, 50.
,, the Western, 39; see Col-
ston tower and Butler tower.
Transept, North, 45-47 ; South, 31,

48-50.
Tudor Work, 52, 54, 55.

Vaughan, Sir Charles, monument

to, 52.
Vaulting, Abbot Knowle's, 58, 65.

Wait, Mr. W. K., 33.

W^alwyn, R., memorial to children

of, 49.
Westheld, Bishop, slab to, 78.
West Front, the, 29.
Westmacott, R., 62.
Winkworth, Catharine, memorial to,

47-
Wright, Thomas, 26, 91.
Wyrcestre, William, 8, 14, 37. 51,

60, 69, 71, 84, 93, 96, 97; note

on, 106.

Young, Sir John, tomb of, 72.

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which can be slipped into the pocket and carried with ease, and is yet
distinct and legible. ... A volume such as that on Canterbury is exactly
what we want, and on our next visit we hope to have it with us. It is
thoroughly helpful, and the views of the fair city and its noble cathedral
are beautiful. Both volumes, moreover, will serve more than a temporary
purpose, and are trustworthy as well as delightful." — Notes and Queries.

"We have so frequently in these columns urged the want of cheap,
well -illustrated, and well -written handbooks to our cathedrals, to take
the place of the out-of-date publications of local booksellers, that we are
glad to hear that they have been taken in hand by Messrs George Bell
& Sons." — .S"^ Jameses Gazette.

" The volumes are handy in size, moderate in price, well illustrated, and
written in a scholarly spirit. The history of cathedral and city is in-
telligently set forth and accompanied by a descriptive survey of the
building in all its detail. The illustrations are copious and well selected,
and the series bids fair to become an indispensable companion to the
cathedral tourist in England." — Times.

"They are nicely produced in good type, on good paper, and contain
numerous illustrations, are well written, and very cheap. We should
imagine architects and students of architecture will be sure to buy the
series as they appear, for they contain in brief much valuable information."
— British Architect.

" Bell's ' Cathedral Series,' so admirably edited, is more than a descrip-
tion of the various English cathedrals. It will be a valuable historical
record, and a work of much service also to the architect. The illustrations
are well selected, and in many cases not mere bald architectural drawings
but reproductions of exquisite stone fancies, touched in their treatment by
fancy and guided by art." — Star.

" Each of them contains exactly that amount of information which the
intelligent visitor, who is not a specialist, will wish to have. The dis-
position of the various parts is judiciously proportioned, and the style is
very readable. The illustrations supply a further important feature ; they
are both numerous and good. A series which cannot fail to be welcomed
by all who are interested in the ecclesiastical buildings of England." —
Glasgow Herald.

"Those who, either for purposes of professional study or for a cultured
recreation, find it expedient to ' do ' the English cathedrals will welcome
the beginning of Bell's ' Cathedral Series.' This set of books is an
attempt to consult, more closely, and in greater detail than the usual
guide-books do, the needs of visitors to the cathedral towns. The series
cannot but prove markedly successful. In each book a business-like
description is given of the fabric of the church to which the volume
relates, and an interesting history of the relative diocese. The books are
plentifully illustrated, and are thus made attractive as well as instructive.
They cannot but prove welcome to all classes of readers interested either
in English Church history or in ecclesiastical architecture." — Scotsman.

"They have nothing in common with the almost invariably wretched
local guides save portability, and their only competitors in the quality and
quantity of their contents are very expensive and mostly rare works, each
of a size that suggests a packing-case rather than a coat-pocket. The
* Cathedral Series ' are important compilations concerning history, archi-
tecture, and biography, and quite popular enough for such as take any
sincere interest in their subjects." — Sketch.

LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

This book is DUE on the last date stamped below

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